The Legend of Spyro: Arc of Scorn
by silo2130
Summary: Two brothers who have grown up not knowing who their parents were, get transported into Spyro's world. But when a dark forgotten evil is awoken will they be able to defeat it? canceled - See Gateway please...
1. Author notice

Hey everyone, Silo2130 here. If you haven't seen it already, chapter one of the revised version of this story is up and is currently awaiting some of your fine reviews! Do not think that I don't want you to read this story, critiquing it will help me better my writing skills for the future but I must insist that if you do read this than please check out Gateway to Destruction. I'm still developing a plot, one that is more complex with darker characters and less Sues than the first had. Development is picking up and I should (Now that is a very loosely used "Should") have a chapter up every two to three weeks, depending on how much I can get done in the spare time that I have. I am going to focus on this through my Christmas break and hope to have at least three-four chapters up by the end of January.

Please send me a private message, write a review, anything. I respond to all messages within 24 hours of the post/message. I really appreciate the support I've gotten throughout my first story and I hope to get even more for the revision.

You all are the best! -Silo2130

PS- Check my profile for updates on the progress of the story, my thoughts on things that are either about/not about the story. I will update the progress from now on every three days starting tomorrow. Thanks everyone!


	2. Chapter 1

So this is my first fanfic ever, I don't mind criticism and I accept it if it is to help me write better in the future :) Please leave comments or suggestions of how I can better my story as it goes along. Thanks everyone! _

Torches lined the walls down a narrow passageway where to boys, about fifteen years old, walked in silence side by side. They knew what was at the end of the passage, passed the closed door, so they didn't have much to say. They walked to the door and paused for a moment when the boy on the right let out a sigh and turned to the boy on his left.

"I wonder what It's gonna' happen to em' today, huh?" The boy asked.

"Not sure." The other boy answered back. "So far from what we've seen its probably gonna' be pretty intense."

"Yeah I hope those two are alright." The boy let out another sigh taking his attention off the other boy back towards the door when they heard a roar and a loud crash. "Well we might as well go in, I can hear them already, sounds like more fighting is going on."

"Yeah, lets go." The other boy answered turning back towards the door, lifting his hand to push it open.

The door creaked loudly the to entered the dark dungeon-like room. The floors were covered by years of moss that gave it an old castle appearance. There were no windows in the room and no torches lining the walls exccept for the few that followed a pathway of dirt towards the center of the room. It was there in the center of the room atop a small set of stairs. There sat an arc that seemed to glow in the darkness.

As the boys walked down the path, the torches they passed would flicker suddenly, then go out as if a breeze had come through. The two didn't pay attention to it as they were accustomed to it happening, and they focused their attention on the gateway that lied ahead. When they ascended the small flight of stairs the last of the torches were blown out and the only light that could be seen in the darkness was from the mysterious glow that surrounded the arc. The two sat down on the old stone floor and tried to get comfortable as they knew it would be sitting there for a while.

The arc began to swirl and twist as it was focusing onto two figures. When the arc stopped spinning and the image became clear, it showed two creatures running from something. One of the two creatures stopped abruptly and turned around allowing the boys to see its face more clearly. From what they have read in books, the creature closely resembled a dragon, from what they read and seen. It had purple scales covering its entire body, his chest and underbelly, however, were a magnificent gold color which could barely be seen from all the dirt and smoke that was smeared across it. It had two ivory horns that curved slightly to two deadly points. Many cuts, bruises, gashes, and scars could be seen all across his body. The boys didn't know what qualified a "well built" dragon, but they could see muscles flexing in preperation of what he was about to do. The two sat and watched silently as the purple dragon made his move.

The purple dragon shot a fireball at a figure that was surrounded in a black and evil mist. In the mist nothing but cold, yellow eyes that would terrify even the toughest and bravest man or dragon alive could be seen. The evil entity ignored the attack, and continued passed the purple dragon swiping him away with talons that appeared from the mist. It moved towards the other dragon still running from the attacker.

"I've got you now you wretched little dragon. Now I will show you why you never betray me" A dark and sadistic voice came from the entity. With each word that was said the hairs on the boys necks stood on end. Suddenly arms appeared out of the mist as it reached for the dragon.

"Let go of me!" The dragon screamed as she was grabbed by the hands of her attacker. "Spyro! Help me!"

When the hands grabbed the dragon she was pulled up into the air and could be seen in full view. She was covered with black scales and her chest was a dark almost blood red color. She had many horns protruding from the sides and back of her head that curved back. She also had silver cuffs around her throat, legs and her tail looking almost like shackles. She would be increadibly beautiful if she to didn't have the smoke, dirt, cuts, and bruises across her body much like Spyro's.

The hands of the dark figure had a firm grasp on the dragon. The boys held their breath hoping that the purple dragon Spyro would get back up. But he didn't get up from the ground he looked battle worn was in imense pain, obviously he had reached his limits from continual fighting before the boys had even arrived.

"C-Cynder." Was all that came from the dragon as he watched the life get strangled out of the other dragon. "N-No!"

The evil creature threw the dragon away and gave a twisted and maniacle laugh.

"See young dragon, I told you, you were no match for me, and now you see the consequences of your actions by challenging me?"

He gave another evil laugh as he walked towards the fallen dragon. The mist lowered to the ground close enough so he could whisper to Spyro's ears and taunt him.

"And now." He began. "I'm going to make you watch me, as I torture your little dragoness friend over there."

"No!" Spyro shouted. The voice from the mist gave another evil laugh as he proceeded towards the other dragon. Just as it reached out to grab hold of the dragoness still lying on the floor trying to breath, Spyro began to glow and the ground trembled as he started to rise from the floor.

Just as soon as he had grabbed Cynder, Spyro let out all of his rage."DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH HER!" He roared as loud as he could.

"What th-" Was all the voice could say as he was struck by a beam of pure, golden energy. The voice roared as the mist was being dispersed from him revealing a very tall pure black dragon with the same cold, yellow eyes. The beast glared at him, turning from the dragoness that lie on the floor. He growled at Spyro and charged for him, gathering energy for a blast to kill him in one shot.

"Now you die Malefor!" He shouted again unleashing a blinding light that made both the boys still sitting, watching the battle happen to sheild their eyes from the light. Once Spyro unleashed his power the arc began to flicker and become out of focus. As the light slowly died away they heard the faint sound of the evil dragons screams and curses towards Spyro. The arc finally went silent and nothing but the heavy breathing from the two boys remained.

"Woah." was all that was said. They didn't really know what to say from what they had just witnessed and were left awestruck. Suddenly a small bang was heard from behind them. Just as they heard the noise, the torches surrounding the arc went out. The door they went through to the room swung open suddenly with another loud bang ratteling dust and chips of loose stone off the walls that surrounded them. As the door opened a gust of wind, strong enough to knock them off their feet, started to drag them back through the door they entered.

"_Ah crap._" they both thought in unison. "_Coulden't it just ask us politely to leave?" _

The two were flung through the air,down the the stairs, through the door, and further and further back to a wall that lie at the end of the corridor, waiting for the two boys to smash into.

**End of chapter 1**


	3. Chapter 2

A curtain covered the window letting only a small strand of light onto the bed below it. The light slowly crept across the bed towards a sleeping purple dragon. The light slowly moved onto his face and he frowned. He tried to cover his face with his paws but was unable to lift them. The dragon opened his eyes and blinked a few times to get adjusted to the light.

"_Where am I?" _ he thought to himself. It was then that he realized. _Cynder! _ He attempted to stand and leave the room to find her but was unable to get up. He looked towards his legs and saw they had all been completely immobilized by casts, apparently they all were broken. He growled in frustration as he made several other attempts to stand yet failed each time. Hearing the commotion outside, Hunter the cheetah busted through the door.

"Spyro your awake!" he exclaimed. Hunter let out a sigh of relief and sat down next to him.

"What happened?" Spyro asked. "Where am I?"

"You're in your room." Hunter explained. "You've been out cold for almost two days now."

"Two days?" he repeated. "Wait, where is Cynder?"

"Don't worry she's just fine. If you want I can bring you to her later today, if your up to it of course."

"Yes, please." They both sat in silence when a gasp was heard at the door. Spyro's half brother, Sparx, had just flown into the room.

"Spyro!" he shouted with joy and flew towards his brother to hug one of his horns. "How are ya' feeling ya big purple lug?"

"Better than you look." Spyro said jokingly. At this Sparx's attitude turned to defensive.

"Oh is that so?" Sparx asked. "So all the broken bones and cuts you got you still think your better looking than me?" Sparx huffed in annoyance.

"Pretty much, yeah." Spyro said. Spyro grinned and put his head back down on his bed and passed out.

"C'mon Sparx, lets let Spyro rest for now." Hunter whispered.

"Alright." Sparx whispered back. He hugged Spyro's horn again and whispered, "Good to have ya' back buddy." and they both left his room.

Cynder however, had not gotten such a warm welcome. She had been lying around with nothing to do for a few hours. She attempted to leave the room which she found was locked from the outside and heard guards patrolling outside. The window above her bed had not had the comfort of a curtain to block the sunlight that shone through the now lit room. Bars had been placed on the window to prevent her from escaping unless she used her elements, but she knew that would alert the guardians in a second.

Cynder sighed loudly and decided to start pacing her room for a little exercise to take her mind off her boredom.

"_They seem to forget of my shadow element. Oh well I don't think I should piss them off right now." S_he thought to herself. She could leave at any time, her shadow element aloud her to turn into a vapor-like substance and disappear so she could leave but she didn't want to make the guardians any more angry with her. So she just decided to stay in her room and earn their trust back, however long that may take.

She continued to pace thought about the last moments before she had passed out with Spyro. _I love you. _Those three words rang throughout her mind over and over again. _Do I love him? Of course I do! But how can I? I betrayed him many times, but he has always been there for me. Did he hear me? Please ancestors I pray he did. I love him._ These thoughts continued for several hours. You would of though she had dug a trench with how much she had paced. She had been thinking of him and it was almost sundown when she finally heard a knock on her door.

"Who is it?" she asked. "If its one of you Guardians, go away, I don't want to talk with you right now."

"Don't worry." the voice called back. "Its just me, Hunter."

"Oh alright, what is it you want?" her voice was a little calmer when she realized it was him.

"I was just bringing you your dinner," he answered back. "Is it alright if I come in?"

"Uh, sure I guess. You have the door locked from the outside so I don't know why you need my permission." she said in an annoyed tone.

Hunter unlocked the door and was scratching the back of his neck with one hand the other was dragging a dead sheep behind him. "Yeah sorry about that, I don't think its fair to have you in here all day myself, but its the Guardians orders."

"It doesn't matter, I understand they may have some trust issues with me." She told him. "I just wish I could leave and stretch my wings for a bit. Sitting here all day isn't exactly comfortable you know."

Hunter placed the sheep in front of her and she began to eat it without even cooking it. Once she was finished, which only took a minute, Hunter stepped outside the door and told the guards to take the rest of the day off. _Yes sir!_ Cynder could hear and the the guards marched off towards their barracks.

Hunter turned back inside her room. "I know I could get in a lot of trouble for this, but," he said. Cynder picked up her head at these words. "But I know you could use some time outside and so here's what I will do. You can come outside but only if I'm with at all times. Deal?"

Cynder smiled and nodded. "Thanks Hunter I really appreciate this." And with that they exited her room.

Spyro had been awoken many times throughout the day, plagued with nightmares of Malefor and Cynder. He dreamed of Cynder turning to darkness and Malefor gaining power again. Each time it was the same, and each time he would awake drenched in a pool of sweat.

_'ugh I can't take this anymore. I didn't want to use this but...' _he thought to himself. He scooted across his bed to the edge and fell to the floor with a loud thud. Spyro winced at the pain in his broken limbs but continued across the room to the corner of his room. When he reached the wall he moved a loose stone from the floor. Once he had removed the stone it revealed a white crystal. He grabbed the crystal with his maw and suddenly gasped in pain. A glow surrounded his body when he touched the white crystal and it began to heal his broken bones. His bones violently snapped back into place with loud crunching sounds and his eyes filled with tears from the agonizing pain. When the bones were finally all back in place and the glow died down, Spyro sighed with relief and sent a small flame onto one of his casts, burning it to a crisp instantly. He smashed the cast on the floor and it crumbled into a heap of ashes. Spyro then took the rest of the casts off by running his sharpened talons against them. Once he had them all off he walked to the door.

He had just opened the door when a bright light shone through his window. Not even a second later a yellow light had smashed through the wall above his bead, hit Spyro with such a force that it knocked him through his door and onto an unsuspecting mole guard.

Once the dust had cleared and Spyro got up to see what had happened. A yellow dragon, one that Spyro had never seen before lay on the ground with blood running down his face. Spyro turned to see a pool of blood surrounding the door that lay on the ground and a small hand that lay lifeless from under it.

"May the ancestors watch over you forever." Spyro said softly and turned back towards the yellow dragon.

The yellow dragon was coughing hoarsely and tried to speak but only two words were audible. "Help... Please..."

And with that the yellow dragon blacked out.

**Sorry it took so long to update and with such a short chapter at that. U**nfortunately** i'm in the process of moving and for some reason school decided to do a district wide test for no reason out of nowhere so i have been beat down and tired all week. But by next week things should come out more often since all this crap will be dealt with so thank-ya for being patient with me :D please R&R my story **

**PEACE**


	4. Chapter 3

Spyro examined the damage the crash had done to his room. _'Just great, my room is destroyed.'_ he thought. Spyro sighed and stepped towards the unconscious dragon. Blood was steaming down a gash on the dragons face. Spyro began to lift the broke stone and splinters away. With his new strength, Spyro threw away the last big stone that was lying on of the dragon.

"Master Spyro!" A voice called from down the hall. Several mole guards had heard the crash and were sprinting towards him bearing weapons and shields. When they reached Spyro, they quickly circled the unconscious yellow dragon with their swords and spears pointed towards its face.

"Leave him be." Spyro said. "We must get him to the healers."

The mole guards exchanged looks with each other but followed Spyro's orders and lifted the yellow dragon, without concern of his comfort, off the ground.

"Bring him to the healers and call for me when he is awake." Spyro ordered. "I will go and report this to the Guardians." And with that Spyro turned and walked off towards the Pool of Visions.

Cynder and Hunter sprinted down the hallways towards Spyro's room. They too had heard the crash and moved as quickly as they could. They turned around the last hallway to see a pile of rubble and splinters strewn across the ground. Cynder gasped when she saw the pool of blood that was made by the yellow dragon but thought it to be Spyro's.

"Spyro!" She cried out. Cynder had begun throwing away stone slabs and pieces of the broken door in an attempt to find Spyro. Tears were streaming down her face when she couldn't find him. A patrolling mole guard had walked around through passageway and saw the black dragoness running towards him. The guard took a step back and raised his weapon in defense.

"Where is he!" Cynder shouted at the guard. "Where is Spyro!"

The guard took another step back in fear that Cynder would attack him. "I won't tell you anything you devil!" he shouted back. His voice was shaky and his hands were trembling violently, but he kept his weapon raised at her.

Cynder snarled in anger and turned back to Spyro's room. She had never seen his room before and in the state it was in now she could never of guess of how he lived. She looked around in the room for signs of Spyro but only found what was once a brilliant white crystal that Spyro used earlier was now dull gray and lifeless. She ignored the crystal and jumped up onto his bed. She curled herself into a ball and began to weep silently.

Outside Spyro's room Hunter had been talking with the mole guard and Cynder had been listening quietly. "So Spyro is in a meeting with the Guardians?" He asked.

The mole guard nodded. "Yes, in the Pool of Visions room."

"Thank you." Hunter said and turned back towards Spyro's room only to see Cynder had already left out the hole in the wall. The crystal that Spyro had used was also missing.

The unconscious yellow dragon had been brought to the infirmary and the healers began to work on him. His right foreleg and both forepaws had been broken in half and needed to be set and splinted. Thankfully he was out cold otherwise doing so would have been very difficult. His wing membrane had acquired many small cuts and holes but the bone supporting his left wing was snapped by the crash. They had placed a full torso cast on him and the lead healer noted down on a list of his injuries how many broken ribs he had: three. The rest of his body had small cuts and bruises, along with a few splinters sticking out of his scales from the door. Once they had cleaned the gash on his head and removed all the splinters from him, they carefully set him on a bed for rest.

"When are we supposed to get that supply of energy crystals?" The head healer asked one of the mole guards that had brought him in.

"We should be getting the shipment tomorrow before nightfall." The mole guard answered.

The healer sighed and began to blow out the candles around the room. _'Poor guy' _he thought_. 'I'm glad I'm not him. He is going to be in a lot of pain when he wakes up.'_ He closed the curtain around his bed and blew out the last of the candles and left the room along with the others.

"So, a yellow dragon has crashed through your room and is unconscious in the infirmary?" Terrador repeated.

Spyro nodded. "Yes, and he before he blacked out he asked for help."

"Hmm. I see." Terrador said.

"How did you manage to come out of that room unscathed?" Cyril asked.

"Before Ignitus died." Spyro cringed slightly at the thought of Ignitus. "He gave me a special crystal which heals you to perfect health for one day." he explained. "But there is one problem. Unless you use another regular healing crystal by the end of the twenty-four hour time span that you use the crystal, all the injuries you have acquired will return along with something else."

"And what would that be?" Volteer asked impatiently. Learning new things always excited the Lightning Guardian.

"Allow him to finish Volteer." Terrador said.

"Oh I'm sorry, please forgive me, continue." Volteer said.

"Well according to Ignitus, the crystal, if you use it and don't get proper healing before the time runs out, will bring a plague onto the individual who uses it, making them very ill. It is very difficult to overcome the illness even with proper care." Spyro explained.

"So why did you use the crystal if you knew the risk?" Cyril asked.

Spyro chuckled. "The crystal has the ability to recharge unlike other crystals, so I used it to get out of my room and... well... uh..." Spyro hesitated on his sentence. What he had planned to do before the yellow dragon broke through his room was to go tell Cynder how he felt, how he _really_ felt.

"It's alright," Terrador interrupted for Spyro. "There is no need to explain. Now run along, we will send for you when the healing crystals arrive."

Spyro smiled. "Thank you Terr-" Terrador raised his paw and silenced him. He waved his paw back and forth to send him away. Spyro caught the hint, nodded his head and left the room.

Spyro shut the door behind him as he left only to have a black blur tackle him to the floor.

"Spyro!" Cynder shouted with joy. She had pounced him and was now lying on his chest.

"H-Hey Cynder, I'm glad to see you to." Spyro said. He had never been this close to her, he didn't mind it at all but the sudden interaction left him blushing madly. Cynder noticed this and quickly retracted her body from him.

"Sorry about that." She said softly. Although Spyro couldn't see it, she too was blushing harshly, but luckily for her, her black scales hid the color.

Spyro smiled weakly. '_C'mon say something!'_ his mind was screaming at him. _'Ask her to walk with you, ask her how she's feeling, tell her how you feel about her, just do something!" _Spyro's conscious screamed at him.

Spyro finally gave into what his mind was telling him to do. "Uh Cynder." He began, "Would you care to uh, go down to the gardens with me?" Spyro's face was now crimson red, all the blood from his body was now rushing to his face.

Cynder couldn't believe what she just heard. She stared at him for a few moments processing what he had asked her. _'Why would he want me to go with him to the gardens?' _she thought to herself. _'Maybe... Maybe he does like me; why else would he want me to go with him? What if he is taking me to a nice place so if he tells me he doesn't want__ to be with me it won't hurt as much... no Spyro's not like that, he likes me, I know he does.' _Cynder stood still for a couple more moments letting the thoughts go in and out of her mind. She finally expelled the negative thoughts from her mind and nodded in response.

Spyro smiled slightly and said "Alright follow me." He started to walk down the hallway towards the exit of the dragon temple with Cynder at his side. _'I hope she likes this...'_

The sun had already set behind the temple and torches had been lit and set next to the pathway leading to the gardens. Spyro and Cynder walked side by side down the dirt path in silence. Spyro's heart was pounding heavily in his chest as they walked together in the darkness. When they reached the gardens Spyro stopped.

"Alright close your eyes" He told her. Cynder eyed him suspiciously but obliged to his request.

"Alright now grab onto my tail blade, but keep your eyes closed." Spyro lifted his tail to her snout and she bit down on it gently.

Spyro then started to walk forward passing flowers of every kind on his way to his destination. He made a couple of turns through the maze of flowers and brush that grew alongside the ground and up the trees. Cynder could hear Spyro mumbling to himself under his breath. 'Left, pass the tree with a hole in the middle, right' Cynder wanted to open her eyes but knew that would ruin the surprise Spyro was going to show her.

"Ah here we are, now duck here." Spyro finally said after a few minutes of walking. Cynder ducked and her horns brushed slightly against some leaves and branches as she followed Spyro into a small opening.

"Alright, you can open your eyes." Spyro told her.

Cynder opened her eyes and gasped in shock. Flowers of every kind were strewn across the ground in what was a small opening covered by the trees and bushes that acted as a barrier to outside eyes. A small fountain surrounded by torches sat in the middle of the clearing. The continual sound of streaming water from the fountain was relaxing and the scent of the flowers that surrounded it was overwhelming.

"Spyro... It's...It's beautiful." Cynder finally said after she was done taking in the sight. "When and how did you find this place?" She asked him.

"Well, I didn't actually 'find' this place." He told her. "And that's part of the reason why I wanted to show you this. The truth is..." He paused for a moment trying to collect his thoughts. "I well... I made this for you."

"You what?" Cynder said in surprise. She looked at him in amazement. "You made all of this... for me?"

Spyro nodded blushing more than ever. "And I've wanted to tell you something." Spyro's heart was pounding harder than it ever has. "I've known you for a long time and we've been through so much together. I've wanted to tell you this since I first saw you. Cynder.

"Yes Spyro?" Cynder's heart was doing back-flips in her chest.

"Cynder I wanted to tell you that I... I...-" _'Do it! Tell her now!' _his mind screamed at him. "-That I love y-..." That was all that Cynder needed to hear. She had cut him off by pressing her lips to his. Spyro was caught off guard by this but did not break away. Cynder let out a few muffled moans as they continued to press harder into the kiss which seemed to last for a lifetime.

Cynder finally pulled away and whispered softly into his ear. "I love you Spyro."

This time Spyro was able to finish his sentence. "And I love you Cynder."

The two stood in silence, staring into each other's eyes. Unfortunately for them they heard a guard calling for Spyro off in the distance. They both sighed and crawled together underneath the bushes out into the gardens once again.

They had walked through the maze of flowers once again, this time Cynder had her eyes open and made a mental note of how to get back to the secret garden. Once they had exited the gardens they came across the mole guard that was shouting his name.

"Ah master Spyro." The mole guard began. "You had told me to get you once the dragon has awoken."

"Thank you." Spyro said to the guard. The mole saluted him and walked away back to the temple.

Cynder had not yet been informed of the dragon and stood next to Spyro with a puzzled look on her face. "What dragon is he talking about?" She asked him.

"Oh that's right, you don't know yet, though you have probably seen my room haven't you?" Cynder giggled when he mentioned his room.

"Well it probably wasn't in a better state than it is now" She teased him, nudging him with her hip.

"Anyways... A yellow dragon had crashed through my room and is in the infirmary right now."

"Well what are we waiting for?" She asked him excitedly. "I'd like to meet this dragon who made _My_ Spyro a homeless bum." She joked adding an emphasis to the 'my'.

Spyro chuckled and draped his wing over Cynder. Cynder cooed softly under her breath as he pulled her closer to his side. "Alright then, let's go." And then with Cynder tucked under his wing, they walked together to see the new dragon.

**Spyro: "I love you Cynder"**

**Cynder: "And I love you Spyro"**

**Sparx: "Hey guys what'd I mis...- AH GROSS"**

**Woohoo 3 chapters done x# more to go! Haha. Spyro confessed his love for Cynder, he needs to be healed before nightfall tomorrow, and a new dragon has appeared and is now waking up. Some exciting things are happening to the dragon realm, I wonder if its for the good or for the bad? R&R**

**C'ya XD**


	5. Chapter 4

"Quick, get me the syringe and some sedatives!" The head healer called out to a nurse. The nurse nodded and quickly and brought the healer the syringe with many assorted herbs and ointments. The yellow dragon had been thrashing about wildly, either from pain and was going into shock or he was hysterical. The healer quickly and skillfully mixed the herbs and ointments together in a small pot and poured the solute into the syringe and tried to jab it into the dragon's chest, but was knocked away by the blunt end of the dragons tail blade.

"Hold him still or I won't be able to inject this properly!" The nurse and a few mole guards attempted to hold his tail and fore legs down, the moles nearly getting thrown off in the process but managed to hold him long enough for the healer to inject him.

Almost instantly the dragon's fore arms, though were still covered by the splints, legs and tail went limp. All that was moving was the dragon's chest, which was rising and falling rapidly.

The dragon's eyes were darting around the room frantically, searching for something, or someone. The healer noticed this and tried to calm him down.

"Hey there buddy, I know you can't move right now and it hurt me to do that but you need to calm down." He coaxed the yellow dragon.

The dragon's chest was moving up and down at a rapid pace and the healer placed a hand on his neck to check his pulse.

Even for a yellow dragon, the ones who are most eccentric of all the dragons, his heartbeat was way off. He would be fine for a moment then out of nowhere his heart rate would skyrocket or miss beats.

The healer sighed and turned back to the guards. "Spyro is on his way correct?" He asked them. They both nodded simultaneously and gave a 'Yes sir!' to him. "Great..." The healer sighed again. "Let me know when he arrives, I'm going to go sit down for a minute."

"Well you're going to have to wait a moment for that doc'." Sparx had entered the room followed by Spyro and Cynder.

Spyro and Cynder's tails were still entwined and both were smiling widely. Just before they had come into the room Sparx had seen them together... Although Sparx didn't want to think about it, so he flew out the open window off to do whatever he wanted to in attempts to ignore both of them.

Cynder's smile widened and turned to Spyro. "I don't think he likes me being this close to you." She giggled softly.

"Well he's going to have to get used to it cause' I'm not leaving your side for a while."

Cynder smiled and pecked Spyro on the cheek. A few of the mole guards that had brought the yellow dragon in saw this and their faces turned to a look of horror. Was it enough that Spyro was so calm around her, but also had his tail entwined with hers, AND he has the audacity to let her do that to him?

The guards decided not to be defensive or anger Cynder, for their own sake that is, and they wouldn't want Spyro to do something to them they would regret. So they just saluted Spyro and quickly scuttled out of the room.

"So this is the dragon that wrecked your room?" Cynder asked him.

Spyro nodded in response. He noticed that the dragon wasn't moving but he was still breathing. "Why isn't he moving? Is he paralyzed?" he asked the healer.

"No, well yes, for the time being that is." The healer explained. "I used a sedative that paralyzes the body except for the vital organs, so he should be fine. It will start to wear off in a few minutes starting with the jaw and neck then arms so on and so forth until everything is movable again."

Spyro noticed a few bruises on the healer's arms and face under his fur. Spyro held his question in for another time, so as to ask the yellow dragon why he was so upset.

"Please go ahead and rest." Spyro told the healer.

"Thank you." The healer said. He bowed and exited the room leaving all three dragons alone.

Spyro and Cynder retreated to the corner of the room for a couple of minutes to take a short rest as it was well past midnight. Cynder had curled up into a ball with Spyro's wing draped over her side. Cynder moved in closer and rested her head on his chest. Spyro was blushing with the closeness that they were sharing but Cynder didn't mind at all, she could spend the rest of her life there with him there.

The yellow dragon had finally calmed down after several minutes of immobility, his breathing had slowed down and he closed his eyes to get some rest. Every once in a while his chest would cringe on reflex from his broken limbs stabbing him in the lungs, but he tried to ignore it as best as he could. The effects had started to wear off starting with his jaw and neck just as the healer had told Spyro. The dragon craned his neck slightly to see Spyro and Cynder together. He smiled slightly and laid his head back down on his bed. 'About damn time' he thought to himself.

Or at least he thought he was thinking it, the truth was he accidentally said it out loud and Cynder had heard him.

"'About damn time' for what?" Cynder asked keeping her voice down so as not to wake Spyro who had just fallen asleep. She was however eying the dragon suspiciously.

"Oh sorry, I was just thinking out loud." He tried to recover from the awkward moment but Cynder wasn't buying it.

"Don't give me that crap, tell me what you thought was taking its own damn time?" Cynder was getting very annoyed by the dragon every second.

"It's nothing honestly, now please get some rest, and try not to wake your boy-friend." He tried to end the conversation on a better note but 'boy-friend just slipped out.

Cynder was not amused without waking Spyro she huffed a small gust of wind in his direction that slapped him in the face.

"Geez, sorry, I guess I'll leave you alone."

"That you will." Cynder stated triumphantly though still angered by the yellow dragon. She had ended the conversation and rested her head on Spyro's chest once again.

The healer had fallen asleep in his quarters but woke up to check on the dragon a few minutes later.

"Good you're awake and calm I presume?" He made sure to keep his distance from the dragon in case he lashed out again.

The yellow dragon had his eyes closed in attempts to go to sleep but he nodded none the less. "Sorry about earlier I was just freaking out..." he admitted sorrowfully.

"May I ask what caused you to have been so worked up for?" The healer questioned the yellow dragon now by his bed side.

"I would like to, but only when Spyro is awake, I would prefer he know first. I just hope he wakes up soon..." The yellow dragon was being very cryptic and mysterious but the healer just let it slide for the time being.

"May I ask you your name young one?"

The yellow dragon was almost asleep and his voice was muffled "Gabriel."

The three Guardians had been standing next to the Pool of Visions for many hours discussing about what to do with Cynder.

"I know it was his last wishes to keep her safe but I will not allow her to endanger the rest of us." Terrador announced.

"I've told you many times." Volteer interrupted. "There is no way for her to turn back now that Malefor is gone, he and Spyro are the only ones who can make her turn back to her old ways and I highly doubt Spyro would do that to her after spending so many years to help her see the light!"

"But still, many people resent her and will not accept her now after what she has done. The only person that has accepted her is Spyro but I do not think that it will be enough. Some day she may lose herself to the darkness that is still in her."

"That is true but she is a very strong willed dragoness." Cyril spoke out. "If she has shown us anything, It's that she will push herself to the edge and further. Besides what will Spyro think if we were to banish her? We may be putting ourselves in danger 'by' sending her away."

Terrador sighed and nodded his head. "I guess I don't have a choice then. She can stay for the time being."

"Good." both Cyril and Volteer said.

"Now about Spyro's room." Terrador changed the subject quickly.

"The temple is still being rebuilt in many areas and what isn't occupied by the mole guards and workers has been taken by Cynder, Flame and Ember. Speaking of which where are those two anyways?" Asked Volteer

"They are off helping the villages surrounding the temple and should be back within two or three days." Cyril stated.

"It's amazing at how quiet it is without Ember trying to hit on Spyro huh'?" Sparx had just flown into the room.

Volteer stifled a laugh. "Yes, quite."

Terrador cleared his throat loudly. "Well then that leaves out Ember's room. Now what about Flame?"

"I believe he asked for a private room for his studies while he is here." Cyril pointed out.

"So Flame is out as well... So that just leaves Cynder's room." Terrador said.

"Yes, though I don't know if they would approve of sharing a room. They have been with each other for three years." Cyril stated. "Perhaps some alone time for the two would be best for them. Spyro could live in one of the villages that surround the temple?"

Sparx groaned softly to himself. "I don't think you'll need to worry about them sharing a room."

"And why is that?" Cyril questioned the dragonfly.

"Well if you weren't as blind as a bat and took a look at them for about five seconds you'd see."

Cyril snorted and blew a gust of cold wind that knocked the dragonfly back.

"Hey!" Sparx shouted at him but Cyril ignored him.

"What do you mean by that Sparx?" Volteer asked.

Sparx sighed trying to get the image out of his head. "Just go see for yourself."

Again Terrador sighed. "There's no need I understand... so I guess that settles it then. Until we get an available room for Spyro, he will stay with Cynder." Terrador announced not too excitedly. "Now, I think we all should get some rest. We have a lot of work to do tomorrow and we need to question the new dragon."

The guardians nodded and headed for the door when a mole busted into the room startling the them and Sparx. The mole guard had been panting heavily in attempts to speak. "M-Master Guardians." He gasped out trying to catch his breath.

"Calm yourself please, there is no need for such urgency during this time of peace." Terrador told the guard. "What has you so flustered?"

"We have a problem Sir's. It's... M-Malefor."

**Hello all. I wanted to personally thank Dardarax for reviewing this and all my future chapters. He is a great writer and i implore you to read his stories! This is just a little shout out to him since he has helped me so much. Thank you all and please R&R mine and Dardarax's stories!**


	6. Chapter 5

**Hey everyone i just wanted to apologize for not having this chapter up sooner and that its so small. The only excuse i have is end of the year exams at school and laziness. But now that summer is here i should be posting chapters more frequently. i am glad that people are interested in this story and were pming me to continue. Thanks for the support and please R&R my story. (Special thanks to Dardarax once again for proof reading my chapters :D couldn't do it with out ya')**

Outside in front of the dragon temple gates, a black crystal the lay embedded in the ground, pulsating with a black energy. A hooded stranger with glowing red eyes and a black mist surrounding him leaned lazily on the crystal with his arms folded.

"What do you want?" A mole guard shouted at the stranger.

The hooded stranger said nothing and looked down at the crystal. He unfolded his arms and chipped off a piece of the crystal with talons like fingers that protruded from the long sleeves of his cloak. He twirled the chip of the crystal in his 'Hand' and leaned back on the larger crystal once again.

A mole guard, though his hands were shaking and sweat was dripping to the floor from his face, walked up to the hooded stranger with his spear pointed at him in defense.

But before the mole guard could be in within his weapons reach of the hooded stranger, he threw the chipped crystal into the face of the mole guard.

The crystal pierced through the eye of the mole and he dropped his weapon. He fell to the floor and clutched his eye in a mix of shock and pain. Once the shock subsided and the pain rushed through him the mole guard screamed in agony. Other mole guards tried to assist him but were knocked back by a brute force from the mole. Dark energy was seeping through the mole's bloody eye and surrounded his body as his screams grew louder and louder.

A few moments later the screaming stopped as soon as it started. The mole twitched on the floor for a few seconds and when he stopped he grabbed his weapon and lifted himself off the floor. He walked over to the stranger and turned around with his weapon now facing the other mole guards.

A black hole where the mole guards eye used to be was leaking now black colored blood. A sickening smile crossed his face and a mix of the black blood and saliva drooled from his lips.

"Bring me Terrador and the other guardians now." The the mole spoke.

"What have you done to him?" A few mole guards shouted in fear at the assailant.

"It is none of your business, whelp." The corrupted mole answered back for the hooded attacker.

Four mole guards charged forward at the hooded attacker but the corrupted mole blocked their path. He jabbed the first two moles in the face with his spears tip, killing them instantly, and knocked the other two back with a strong swing of the shaft.

"Now one more time, bring us the guardians, and if you would, give them a message." The mole said one word and laughed sadistically as a single mole ran off to the guardians while the others guarded the entrance. "Malefor"

Gabriel and Spyro snored loudly in the infirmary. Cynder was tapping the stone floor with her talon and sighed bitterly. '_At least I'll only have to deal with one of these lug heads._' she thought to her self. She smiled at the thought of just her and Spyro together and burrowed her head into his side in an attempt to drown out the noise.

The snoring was now slightly muffled giving Cynder a better chance at sleep, but only slightly. She thought she could hear footsteps outside the door in between the consistent snores of both of the dragons but ignored them and tried to focus on getting some sleep.

Someone knocked on the door and it creaked loudly as it opened. In the door way stood Hunter with Sparx hovering over his shoulder. "Cynder, Spyro, get up we have a problem."

"Wuzz hapnin, Whuzz goin on?" Spyro mumbled groggily. Spyro yawned and uncoiled himself from Cynder. He tried to rub the sleep out of his eyes and followed the two lazily through the corridors.

"Whats going on?" Cynder repeated the question as they walked through the now crowded hallways.

"I'm not sure but from what I've heard, its Malefor." Hunter said calmly.

Spyro and Cynder stopped dead in their tracks. Spyro was now fully alert. "Malefor?" Both dragons asked in shock.

"Yes it appears he is, or is coming back. Me and Sparx were with the guardians and a mole came into the room saying that someone attacked the front gate." Hunter explained. "Now from the looks of it everyone is going to the main entrance to the temple, I suggest we do the same."

Both Spyro and Cynder gave each other worried looks and nodded.

Back in the infirmary Gabriel still lay snoring on the bed, unawakened by the commotion. His hind leg was twitching and a small pool of saliva was pouring from the side of his blissful grin onto the bed. His dream was short however as a cheetah nurse came in to check on him.

"How are you feeling?" She asked with a honest sense of concern in her voice.

Gabriel was slightly startled by the nurse and twitched slightly as he was unable to move much inside of his chest cast.

"Oh I'm sorry for scaring you, I just came to see how you are doing." The female cheetah gave a warm smile and put a paw on his shoulder.

"I'm fine other than the broken bones, speaking of which, would it be alright to remove this cast, its making it hard to breathe?" Gabriel asked politely.

"Well I need to check your breathing anyways so that should be fine." The nurse said.

Gabriel thanked the nurse and used his sharp talon to slice through the hardened cast. Once he sliced through to his neck he tried to remain as still as possible as the nurse pulled it off of him gently so as not to cause him much pain.

Once the cast was removed the nurse took out a small metal object with a hole that big enough to if into her ear. Gabriel assumed that the metal device was their version of a stethoscope. The small metal object was placed on both sides of his chest and the nurse listened closely for any abnormalities. She jotted down some quick notes on a small piece of paper and placed it on the table next to her.

"So how long do I have to live?" Gabriel asked jokingly.

The nurse smiled and answered back sarcastically, "Oh I'd say only a few more minuets, if even that."

Gabriel smiled and closed his eyes. He called out just before the nurse left. "Hey, where's Spyro and Cynder?"

"What are you here for?" Terrador demanded an answer.

"There is somebody we are looking for and we know he's here." The corrupted mole answered.

"Why would I tell you, your master is dead and gone and there is nothing you can say that will make me tell you." Terrador spoke with confidence.

This time the hooded figure spoke. His voice was dark, eerie and filled with a mixture of anger, hate, and bitterness. "Well then maybe this will give you some incentive." He signaled the mole off and the mole laughed sadistically.

The mole returned a few moments later carrying a glowing red band of rope that was dragging two unconscious bodies behind it. Flame and Ember.

"We harbor no one here that is of interest to you or your master." Terrador answered angrily. "Now if you do not leave this temple and let the two dragons go this instant, we will take actions against you!"

"Very well." The hooded figure stood from the crystal and broke another few shards off. He walked over to the unconscious dragons and embedded one of the shards into Ember's neck. She awoke with a start and started to scream just like the other mole had and was silent a few moments later. Ember twitched slightly and opened her eyes. She looked towards the guardians and smiled wickedly. Her eyes were now a sickening yellow with a soulless gaze that pierced through the crowd of moles and the guardians.

The hooded attacker nodded to the corrupted mole and he untied the two fire dragons. Ember popped her joints and leaped off the ground and sped away towards Malefor's Mountain.

"Now give me what I want or you will never see her again, and don't even think about going after her." The hooded attacker said as he picked up Flame and tossed his unconscious body to the guardians.

Spyro, Cynder, Hunter, and Sparx had just arrived to see Ember fly off into the distance.

"Hunter, follow Ember and bring her back." Terrador told him.

Hunter nodded and started to make his way around the hooded attacker trying to keep his distance in case he tried anything.

"I warned you." The hooded attacker said.

"Master look out!" A mole guard jumped Hunter and was impaled by the small shard that the hooded threw.

Again screams of pain echoed around them as another mole was corrupted by the dark energy. Hunter stood still from a mix of shock and fear. He had the fastest reflexes of anyone, and everyone knew he was fast, but how? How did he not see him move?

The hooded attacker took this distraction to run past the guardians and down the halls towards the infirmary. Shouts and the clinging of steel was heard behind him as the corrupted moles battled against Hunter and the others.

Gabriel lay awake in the infirmary because of a cold chill that ran down his spine. His breathing became shaky and his heart started racing. The door burst open and the hooded figure walked in and withdrew a black crystal from inside his cloak.

"W-Who are you?" Gabriel asked in shock.

The hooded figure moved towards Gabriel and removed the top of his cloak revealing his face.

"Oh my God, Gr-Greg is that you!" Gabriel's face turned from shock to horror.

Black strands of thick hair covered in blood red pulsating veins flowed down from his head behind him. More blood colored veins expanded from his eyes and all over his face. Black tears ran down his face from his cold red eyes as he glared at the yellow dragon.

The cloaked on known as Greg breathed a black mist into the air and it surrounded both he and Gabriel. Spyro had just entered the room and was moving in slow motion behind the black mist that surrounded him and Gabriel.

Greg walked over to the crippled dragon and put the black shard to his chest.

"Greg what are you doin-AHH" Gabriel screamed loudly as Greg started to carve into his chest with the shard. Blood poured from his chest onto the bed as Greg continued to slice into the soft scales. Greg ignored the yellow dragons please and screams, all it did was make him smile wider and press harder as he continued cut his way through the scales. The torture lasted for a few seconds, but to Gabriel it felt like hours. Blood soaked the yellow dragons body and the sheets on the bed and once Greg was finished he stabbed Gabriel in the center of his stomach. It had caused so much pain that it made his vision go dark as he was slipping slowly into unconsciousness.

Greg removed himself from the dragons side towards the mist with his back to the dragon. "Find the pieces of the arc and return them to Malefor's mountain in three months time or face the consequences." Greg laughed maniacally as he covered his head with the hood once more. "Good-bye, Brother."

The mist disappeared along with his brother and as time returned to normal, Gabriel was allowed to embraced the blissful comfort of unconsciousness.


	7. Chapter 6

Gabriel hated dreaming. Every time that he would experience pain or an overwhelming emotion as the last thing that happened to him, he would wake up in the same state as in the dream. Sadness, he would wake up crying for an unknown reason. Pain, whether it was a small cut to a loss of a body part, he would wake up with the sense of the pain.

It was the same again, yet somehow, somehow the pain that covered his chest felt... real.

'_It's only a dream' _Gabriel thought to himself to calm his nerves._'Only a dream'_

Normally the pain was instantaneous and went away as quickly as it had come, but the pain he felt now continued.

Gabriel tried to wipe the sweat away that began to bead up on his forehead and slowly slipped into his eye's but couldn't.

Gabriel forced his eye's open through the sting of the sweat. The pain subsided and once his vision cleared all the color drained from his face.

Instead of waking up to his normal bed with his brother across the room getting ready for school, he woke up, strapped down to the bed from his dream. Several bloody rags and cloths filled a bucket on his bedside; the smell made him sick. The pain in his chest was not helping and each moment it only got worse. On a tray next to his bed two crystals, one dull red and one bright red lay with an assortment of medical tools.

He assumed that, because of the dull throbbing from his broken ribs and bones that should have been agonizing, that they were healing crystals. But for what ever reason they had not healed the burning on his chest.

The straps that pinned his forearms and legs down prevented him from reaching the crystal. Luckily though he could reach it with his mouth then figure out how to use it, hoping it would ease the pain which was growing.

The burning sensation was unbearable, almost to the extent where tears were beginning to form in the corners of his eye's as he reached for the crystal.

_'Come...on...just a little...more...' _He struggled to reach for the crystal and just as his snout had touched the tip of it his neck gave way and forced the tray to fall to the ground.

"Shit." Gabriel said aloud. As if being quiet mattered now.

The crystals along with all the medical supplies, bottles, and other miscellaneous items fell to the floor and crashed loudly alerting any, and everyone.

Gabriel quickly put his head back down and closed his eye's as he tried to pretend to be asleep.

The charade however did not fool the now present Hunter who had been just outside the room.

"I'll let the guardians know you're awake." Hunter said and walked out of the room.

Gabriel lifted his head. "Hey wait I... Damnit." Gabriel sighed. The burning was now getting the better of him and he was about to vomit.

Not even a minuet later, all three guardians along with Spyro, Cynder, and Sparx entered the room.

"Thank you Hunter," Terrador said to the cheetah that stood in the doorway. "You may relax for the rest of the day if you wish."

Hunter put his hood on. "No can do." he said and walked off

Terrador would have given an earthly chuckle if under better circumstances, but now was not the time. Spyro had almost been killed by a crash, Ember was now under the control of Malefor, Flame has just been injured, and a new dragon has appeared and is connected to it all.

"Just a fair warning," Terrador began as he stood staring out of the doorway where he just finished his conversation with Hunter. "This is an interrogation and if at any time we feel threatened by you, we will not hesitate to take actions that may not be pleasant for you." Terrador now turned to face Gabriel with a serious look on his face.

The color that had just returned to Gabriel's face disappeared once more. He gulped in dry air and nodded.

"Good, now is there anything you need before we begin?" Terrador asked with a slight grin on his face. From Gabriel's expression, Terrador realized he had scared the living hell out of him and decided to make the mood a little lighter, after all, he was the same age as Spyro from what he could assume, and he didn't want to frighten him to the point where he wouldn't or even 'couldn't' talk.

Gabriel's voice was shaky and that only added to Spyro, Sparx, and Cynder's struggle to keep quiet. "Asking f-for the crystal would be out of th-the question huh?" Gabriel asked nudging his head towards the crystal that fell to the floor.

Terrador shook his head and his grin widened as he enjoyed the tension in the dragon.

'_I suppose asking for a lawyer would be out as well...' _Gabriel thought to himself and laughed inwardly trying to ease his tense nerves.

"Would some water be f-fine?" Gabriel asked as politely as he could with a nervous smile on his face.

"Alright, I'm done." Sparx said throwing his arms in the air, no longer able to be silent. He flew out of the room and laughed all the way down the hall.

Terrador sighed. "What are we going to do with him?" He asked rhetorically putting a paw to his forehead.

"We could always glue his mouth shut." Cynder whispered to Spyro.

"That would probably only make him want to talk more." Spyro answered back.

Both of them laughed quietly until Terrador issued them to be silent. "Spyro would you mind getting him some water please?" Terrador asked.

"Oh uh, sure." Spyro said and walked out of the room leaving Cynder with the others.

"I'll go with him." She said quickly and followed suit.

Cynder caught Gabriel trying to stifle a laugh and glared at him as she passed. Gabriel's grin grew wider and Cynder cocked her head up and gave a 'humph' as a response.

Once they were both gone Cyril motioned a few passing guards outside to help clean up the broken glass and fallen tools around the bed. The guards cleaned the mess in a hurry to get away from Gabriel. Just as they finished Spyro returned with a bucket of water and placed it at the end of the bed followed by Cynder who glared at him as she walked in. The two dragons walked by the guardians and sat on their haunches. Cynder placed a wing around Spyro and dragged him in quickly by her side. The scene was comical and Gabriel was about to laugh but he knew better.

"Well here's your water, anything else?" Terrador asked.

"Yeah can I, yah' know, 'drink' the water?" Gabriel asked a little annoyed.

"Oh I'm sorry, you wanted to 'drink the water'? I'm afraid that's not what you asked, you asked merely for the water." Terrador said slyly.

"Heh you're good." Gabriel said. He looked over to Cynder and Spyro was staring at her as she stuck he tongue out at Gabriel triumphantly. "Well damn, guess I should have been more specific." Gabriel sighed.

Terrador finally chuckled. "Alright Volteer you may let him off the bed now."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Cyril questioned.

"Well lets put it this way, if he were one of Malefor's goons than he would've attacked us or tried to escape by now." Terrador explained. "And besides, I think he deserves to get a drink after scaring the life out of him."

"I see your point." Cyril said.

Volteer nodded and unbuckled the fastenings to the straps that were binding Gabriel to the bed. Gabriel rolled off and landed on the ground and try as he might, he couldn't stand. Volteer pushed the bucket of water next to him and sat next to the other guardians watching the display of the trial and error standing. Gabriel gave up on trying to stand and sat on his haunches as well.

The strain of trying to stand and the pain in his chest finally got the better of him and caused him to vomit. The relief of the nausea disappearing from him was overcome by another pain in his throat. As dry as it was from almost two days without anything to drink, it burned like fire and stung as if needles were being jabbed into his throat. Gabriel had had enough and dunked his head into the bucket of water trying to suck in as much as he possibly could.

The relief of the water rushing down his throat, cooling the pain was blissful. Once he had gotten his fill he removed his head and stared blankly into the rippling water. He had yellow almost a golden color scales, but his chest scales were a deep gold that glowed majestically through the cuts that had been marked on his chest. Two lightning shaped horns curved back and a lightning crest swept down his back. He traced a claw across the markings on his chest scales. A sun sat atop a curved archway with a crescent moon at the bottom. The small puncture wound in the center of the arch glowed with a faint red color.

Terrador had cleared his throat for the second time now getting Gabriel's attention.

"Alright now first off, where did you come from?" Terrador asked now beginning the questioning.

"I guess a planet called Earth." Gabriel answered.

"And where is this 'Earth'?"

"I...I don't know." Gabriel said sorrowfully.

"Next question." Terrador changed the obviously sensitive subject. "Who was the hooded one that kidnapped Ember, injured Flame, attacked Hunter and our guards, and tried to kill you?"

Gabriel laughed. "Tried to? No, he needs me, for now at least. He is or was my brother." Gabriel hung his head.

Gabriel's answer got a variety of expressions that were either skeptical or intrigued.

Terrador was one of the more intrigued looks and decided to push on with this specific subject. "And why does he need 'you' exactly?"

"I assume its because we are the only two that know about the Arc."

"The Arc?" Volteer repeated now intrigued as well.

Gabriel nodded. "A few years ago me and my brother would share dreams of this Arc and it showed us... basically those two." Gabriel pointed to Cynder and Spyro, both of whom were shocked. "every day we would watch them fight against each other or help each other until the time when Spyro froze them inside the mountain, then, it just stopped. Three years went by and we didn't have any more dreams until one day when they were freed by Malefor's minions up until a few days ago, and now here we are."

"So what does the Arc have to do with Malefor?" Terrador asked.

"If I could tell you I would," Gabriel said. "All I know is that we need to find it, or the pieces of it from what my brother told me, in three months time ore we would have to face the consequences."

Terrador scratched his chin as he reviewed the information he just received in his head._'If only Ignitus were here'_

A few moments of silence passed and Terrador made a statement. "We need to find this Arc or the pieces of it before Malefor does. As of now Ember is captured and Flame is just now recuperating. Gabriel, as it is your brother we are dealing with I want you, Cynder, and Spyro to go out looking for the pieces as I assume he will be there. You three will have a week for preparations so that should be ample time to get the training and supplies you will need." Terrador said. "Gabriel, I assume that you are foreign to your body correct?" He asked.

"If foreign means that I can hardly stand up, then yeah, very foreign." Gabriel joked.

"Alright, Volteer take him and train him as best you can in the next week. Be prepared for anything, dismissed."

Everyone nodded and turned to walk out the door to go do their respective tasks but stopped when an echoing voice called out from behind them. "Hello friends."

Everyone's head's turned simultaneously towards the voice. Ignitus.

Spyro was the first to say anything. "I-Ignitus?"

He couldn't, everyone couldn't believe what they were seeing, yet there he stood as real to one as to the rest. The only difference was his now pale blue scales and a sack that carried a variety of scrolls and books.

"Yes Spyro it is me, but I do not have much time to talk I'm afraid." Ignitus said grimly.

Spyro was a tough dragon, having fought hordes and hordes of Malefor's minions, Cynder, and Malefor himself he never cried, but seeing the one who he had lost, the one who cared for him and gave his life for him stood before them. Spyro's tears dripped to the floor silently and he nodded to Ignitus. Cynder wrapped her wing over Spyro again and drew him in to her side as he silently wept under her wing. Her wing shielded her face but it was useless, everyone knew she was sharing the same tears as Spyro.

Ignitus wanted to comfort the two, he wanted to be there for them, but time was not on his side.

Ignitus through the difficulty of seeing the two dragons in that state spoke to the crowd. "I have come to bear a warning to you all and if you do not take heed of it, I am afraid the consequences will be catastrophic."

Gabriel was the only one unfazed by the sight of Ignitus. He did however know how much he meant to the others and sat there quietly.

Ignitus did something unexpected that even surprised Gabriel. "I assume that Gabriel has informed you of the Arc and that Malefor is looking for it correct?" Ignitus asked. How did he already know about the Arc and about Gabriel?

Though he was confused as the rest Terrador nodded. "But we do not know why."

Ignitus sighed. "Allow me to show you what I have seen." Ignitus breathed in deeply and released a blue mist into the air that surrounded the dragons.

The mist covered the walls, ceiling, and floor as it slowly crawled to the door. Once the entire room was covered in the mist everything started to morph into different shapes and colors until it finally settled onto an open field.

A large gold dragon with one wing and one lightening shaped horn stood in the middle of the field. The world around him was dead, the grass, the trees, dark clouds in the distance struck lightening in several places, the sky a blood red color, everything was either dead or decaying.

The dragon held a small bouquet of flowers in his mouth. The flowers had missing petals and were a shade of dark grey.

A small tombstone lay embedded in the ground in front of a line of graves.

"_In memory of all those who sacrificed everything, thank-you."_

The grave in front of the tombstone was covered with dirt and dust from years of neglect. Two scales, one dull grey and the other a faded purple were placed just far enough in the grave so you could see it without the wind blowing it away.

Many other graves were like this. One with a blue scale, one with green, yellow, pink, red. An archers bow on one and a cape next to it. A black hooded cape smeared with dried blood and covered in holes on another.

The dragon set the flowers down in front of the tombstone and bowed his head in respect. He moved at the foot of the two scaled grave and sat on his haunches. He plucked a scale from his body and placed it at the foot of the grave.

"So that's it then, you're just, giving up?" A voice from behind the dragon asked.

The gold dragon didn't move, he didn't even fix his gaze from the grave. He sat there motionless before the voice.

A sickening cackle came from the voice. "Didn't you're parents ever teach you it was rude not to look at someone when they talk to you, Gabriel?"

"I have nothing to say to you Malefor, just finish me and go away." Gabriel said still staring at the grave. He had accepted it, many years ago he had accepted that it was over. A voice in his mind had always told him to push forward, to keep going, that maybe someday, someday he could beat Malefor, but now the voice had gone silent, he had given up his will to live. He was skinny now, almost to the bone from lack of food, blood shot eye's and dark bags under them showed the lack of sleep he had, his voice was hoarse from dehydration. It was over, he was finished.

Malefor scoffed and walked in front of him at the head of the grave. Gabriel refused to raise his head and acknowledge him.

"Well you're no fun, I was starting to enjoy chasing you everywhere, watching you flee in fear, it must be hard only having one wing and all." Malefor mocked the dragon. "After all I have to have some entertainment, you and I, we are the only two alive now."

Malefor read the tombstone and laughed at the dragon. "Isn't that touching? And whats this? Is that Spyro's and Cynder's scales? Oh my you have a little collection for each one I killed don't you?" Malefor's sick game was getting the better of Gabriel, he wouldn't hold much longer.

"So Spyro and Cynder together in one grave? Isn't that cute?" He continued his game. "And lets say if I were to, I don't know, remove those scales and burn them to ashes?" Malefor asked as he reached for the scales.

Gabriel's eyes widened in horror and anger. He couldn't hold it any longer. Just before Malefor gripped the scales Gabriel had slammed his paw to the ground and snapped it in half. Gabriel's body was glowing with a gold energy, his eyes had gone full white and a strange trail of energy followed them as he shook his head.

Malefor grunted in pain as he tried to pull back his wrist from the dragon. Gabriel spoke, but when he did, voices, many dark voices echoed off of his words. "Don't touch them." He said and let go of Malefor's paw.

The gold energy swirled up into Gabriel's body and he sighed as Malefor gripped his broken paw.

Gabriel could have killed him then and there, but it wouldn't matter, all his friends were dead, his only family cast out like trash, he had nothing to live for. Killing him like that wouldn't solve anything, he was alone with no food or water, and dying quickly from Malefor instead dying from starvation, dehydration, lack of sleep, or anything else sounded like a relief.

"Please, just... just end it." Gabriel said as he finally looked up into Malefor's face. As large as Gabriel was, Malefor was larger, Malefor was better groomed and looked healthier than him. His pitch black scales showed no light as if from a dark void of nothingness. His horns were well kept and his wings undamaged. His previously broken wrist now fully healed and ready to strike.

"Gladly." He said. Just before Gabriel was about to be killed the blue mist from before returned to take away the scene and returned the room to normal.

Everyone now stared at Gabriel in horror. He too was confused and terrified that his fate would lead to that.

"I have seen all of your deaths and there is nothing you can do to stop it if Malefor gets the pieces of the Arc and uses its power. Do not let him achieve his goal." Ignitus told the group of dragons as his body slowly started to fade away.

"Ignitus don't go!" Spyro shouted.

"Do not worry Spyro, I will visit you again soon, I promise. For now my friends, goodbye."

Ignitus disappeared leaving Spyro in tears once more.

"Come on Spyro, lets go." Cynder said as she lifted his weak body and helped him out of the room

* * *

><p><strong>Well there ya' go. Gabriel is stuck in the dragon world, Ignitus gave a warning of pure doom for the others, and we only got one line from Sparx! (Praise the ancestors!)I<strong>** feel like this was a good chapter :) Please R&R and continue with me on this lil' ol' journey :D**


	8. Chapter 7

Once Spyro and Cynder were out of the room Terrador signaled Gabriel and Volteer off. Gabriel nodded, picked himself up, and wobbled as best he could with Volteer to the training grounds near the gardens.

Gabriel lagged behind as Volteer led him through the temple and out the front entrance where the dark crystal was. Spyro had removed it the day previous but its energy was still felt by Gabriel and his chest burned slightly. However once they were outside and away from the crystal, he felt fine.

Fresh morning dew was covering the blades of grass and flowers around him. The scent was amazing. Flowers of all kinds were present, lilies, roses, daisies, and other flowers that Gabriel had never even seen before surrounded the two dragons.

"Alright, we are here test the aptitude of your stamina, endurance, and survival skills." Volteer stopped and spoke suddenly.

"Wait what was the last one?" Gabriel asked, a little caught off guard by the guardians rapid fire speech.

Volteer either ignored his question or could not hear him for he continued speaking. "Now see that archery range over there?" Volteer pointed to the targets that stood on sticks in the distance. "I want you to run there and back twenty times in ten minuets."

"Wait what?" Gabriel asked again.

"Go." Volteer said.

"Oh come on, I can hardly walk much less run." He said as he tried as best as he could to sprint to the targets without tripping over himself.

After he made it to the target he looked back at the matted down grass that he had made from his several falls. Gabriel noticed Volteer had signaled him back and rolled his eyes.

"Nine minuets." Volteer said plainly as soon as Gabriel returned.

Gabriel growled and turned around to make his second trip back. Gabriel had only made it back a two more times before he collapsed in front of Volteer gasping for air and begged for him to stop.

Volteer ignored his request and continued with his countdown. "Six minuets."

Gabriel groaned and picked himself off the dirt. "I...can't..." He gasped for air and coughed hard.

Volteer leaned in close to the dragon who's legs trembled from the exercise. "You can, you merely have to look deep within yourself." Volteer said. "Even if you were not a dragon before, you are now, all you need to do is unlock the power within." Volteer smiled and counted down again. "Five minuets."

_'Look within...' _Gabriel thought. _'Within...' _

Gabriel closed his eye's and sat down on the grass. The wind had picked up and blew a cooling breeze over the dragons. The birds chirps grew quieter and quieter as Gabriel meditated on Volteers words. He focused on his goal, get to the targets and he opened his eye's and gasped.

He had found himself sitting not in front of Volteer, but in front of the targets that he had just focused on. Volteer was shocked as well, his mouth almost to the ground in surprise.

Gabriel smiled widely and couldn't keep his excitement in him. "Cool." He said and laughed as he tried it again.

Gabriel closed his eye's and teleported once more to Volteers side, then to the target and back again.

Volteer was left speechless. Never had he seen this power in any dragon. He could have sworn by his horns and color he was an electric dragon, but this skill he possessed was not natural to any dragon. Spyro could control the flow of time, but only if for a few seconds and the dragon that was continually transporting back and forth between the goal he had marked and his spot was a mere hundred yards! There was no way he could have slowed down time and made it there that fast and back.

Gabriel was enjoying the new technique very much. He attempted to do it with his eyes open just a crack once to see how well it would work. To his success each time he would transport closer to the destination he desired from being able to see where he wanted to be transported.

Once he was satisfied by meeting the goal of twenty he transported himself right in front of Volteer. "So, has it been ten minuets yet? Am I done?" Gabriel asked sarcastically.

"Uh... yes... I mean no... good work..." Volteer was speechless.

Gabriel laughed at the way Volteer reacted to being beat at his clearly unfair challenge. His laughter only lasted a moment though, for when his legs buckled beneath him and his body gave way and fell to the dirt with a thud. "Can't... move..." Gabriel said.

"I suspect it was an over use of your new powers." Volteer said as he rubbed his chin. "Stay here for one moment and I'll get you something."

"Please take your time." Gabriel would of laughed again if he weren't so exhausted, but he did have enough energy for one more sarcastic remark. "Like I could go anywhere right now anyways..."

Volteer hurried off towards the temple and Gabriel rolled over to get his face out of the dirt. He was now facing the gardens and admired the beauty of it. As much as he wanted to go over and relax by the sweet scented flowers, his body was refusing to get up despite his best efforts.

Gabriel sighed and looked at the ground in front of him. A small butterfly had perched itself atop a blade of grass in front of his snout. The butterfly rubbed its antennae on his nose and when it had felt it was safe enough, the butterfly walked on his snout. Even though it tickled his softer facial scales, Gabriel watched it without moving crawled around on his snout and moved to the tip of his nose just in front of his eyes. The butterly sat down with its head cocked as it stared at him perplexedly.

Gabriel smiled and closed his eyes. It was peaceful out here, minus the fact that he just ate a face full of dirt from hitting the ground, it was nice. The slight breeze blowing on his scales soothed and relaxed him, the soft grass that did not irritate his new scales as it would have in his human body, the nature's wild life daring to get close to him, though it was merely a butterfly, it gave him some company. It was wonderful.

Gabriel could have fallen asleep if he didn't hear the guardian calling out for him. Gabriel sighed quietly to himself, '_Damn'_

"There you are!" Volteer said as he jumped back in surprise.

Gabriel snapped his eye's open quickly. The butterfly had flown off away from him from the noise and movement.

"I almost didn't see you there for a second, were you laying here this whole time?" Volteer asked.

"I haven't moved since you left me here, why do you ask?" Gabriel said as he lifted his head.

Volteer didn't say anything and scratched his chin again. _'He is quite the intriguing fellow now isn't he...' _Volteer's thoughts went over and over in his mind. _'I could have sworn I looked here a moment ago...' _

"You said you were going to bring something to me right?" Gabriel asked, interrupting Volteers thoughts.

"Oh yes I do, er, did as a matter-of-fact." Volteer said and scrambled in a sack that had been thrown around his tail. "Do you know what this is?" Volteer asked as he pulled out a green crystal that was similar to the red one from before.

"Those are like the healing crystals right?" Gabriel asked.

Volteer nodded. "Correct, but these don't heal wounds, these give you a boost of stamina and energy so you may continue using your powers, running, flying, et-cetra."

Volteer handed the crystal to Gabriel. Nothing happened. "Strange..." Volteer said as he once again rubbed his chin. "Either you're full of energy, can't absorb the crystals power, or both."

"You know now that I think about it, I feel great." Gabriel said lifting his head higher. He carefully picked up his body off the ground and stretched his sore joints. "Apart from the soreness I feel better than ever!" Gabriel smiled.

"What were you doing just before I got here?" Volteer asked.

"Well I guess I was... I don't know, I was just lying here on the ground and I... I just felt... peace." Gabriel said shrugging his wings. "I was just laying on the grass and it felt as if the world around me were one. Sounds a little corny I know, but it's the best I've got."

"Do you think you can do it again?" Volteer asked. _'Very strange indeed.' _His thoughts continued.

Gabriel shrugged his wings again. "I'll try."

He closed his eyes and slumped down to the ground once again. He allowed his every muscle and scale to relax and be cooled by the wind just as before. He felt the comforting grass beneath him, smelled the flowers in the air. He was in a blissful trance again, he was at peace.

"Gabriel, open your eyes." Volteer said sternly.

Gabriel didn't open his eyes. He wanted to stay there in his peace of mind forever. He didn't have a care in the world. The burning in his chest was gone, he forgot of his worries and troubles as they all seemed to melt away as he continued to stay in his meditative like state.

"Gabriel." Volteer said more seriously again.

Gabriel's voice was relaxed and calm, it almost had no specific sound. It was as if the wind carried it away and spoke to the guardian. "Yes, Volteer?"

"You're gone." Volteer said.

Spyro's tears had stopped but he was still shaking. Cynder pulled the covers over him and draped her wing around him to give him a little more warmth.

"I'm sorry Spyro." She whispered to him and kissed him on his cheek.

Spyro just looked away from her. His eyes burned and were bloodshot and his breathing was shaky.

"Is there anything you want that I can get?" Cynder asked sincerely.

Spyro just shook his head slightly and closed his eyes. He didn't want to talk to anyone right now.

Cynder sighed and moved under the covers with Spyro. She pressed against his side and even though Spyro wasn't in the mood to talk, he still blushed at the contact. "I love you." She whispered.

Spyro didn't say anything but mouthed 'I love you' back. He sighed and turned his head away from the dragoness and thought about what was to come in the following weeks.

The day passed slowly for the two dragons and just as night started to slowly engulf the dragon temple someone knocked on the door.

Cynder looked at Spyro. He had finally fallen asleep and was snoring softly.

Cynder kissed him on the cheek and moved out of the bed slowly so as not to wake him.

When she got to the door someone knocked on it again. "It's locked from your side." She whispered.

"Oh sorry." The voice from the other side said back.

The lock clicked quietly and Cynder opened the door a crack. Gabriel had stood outside with two plates of food behind him.

"What do you want?" Cynder whispered angrily. She wasn't exactly on good terms with the dragon but she kept her voice low so she wouldn't wake her mate. '_My mate...' _

"I came to apologize for earlier." Gabriel said hanging his head. "It was not right of me to invade in your personal life and make fun of you, and, I'm sorry."

Cynder was taken aback by the sudden kindness of the dragon that stood before her in obvious humility. Nobody had ever respected her, or valued how she felt other than Spyro, yet the dragon that stood just outside her door, one who had never met them until just recently, was apologizing.

Cynder smiled. "Apology accepted."

It was Gabriels turn to smile now. "Thank you."

Gabriel was about to leave when he remembered the food he had brought. "Oh I almost forgot, here's your dinners." He said nudging the plates of cooked venison forward with his snout. A disgusted look crossed his face when he did.

Cynder smiled but stopped him just as he turned around to leave. "What about yours?" She asked.

"I don't eat meat, I'm a vegetarian." Gabriel said proudly.

"You don't eat meat?" Cynder asked shocked. "How do you live like that?" Cynder imagined herself as nothing but bone from a lack of sustenance.

Gabriel frowned slightly and turned around but Cynder stopped him again.

"How about I help you get some food?" Cynder asked. "It's the least I could do since your new around here." Cynder lied. She wanted to help him because he helped her. He showed her kindness, humility, he was... friendly.

"That's alright, just stay here with Spyro, I'll be fine." Gabriel said, but his stomach on queue growled loudly and made Cynder giggle. "Actually... maybe some food would be nice."

Cynder giggled again and moved the second plate of food in front of Spyro for when he woke up. Cynder ate her food in seconds and was ready to go.

"So when he meditated on the world around him he just, vanished?" Terrador asked in disbelief. The guardians had been in a meeting for a few hours and were just joined by Volteer by the pool of visions. Gabriel had tried his new trick several times both the transportation and when he disappeared and now that it dark, Volteer had called it a night and sent him off.

Volteer nodded. "It was stupendous! Superb! Amazing!" Volteer shot rapid fire adjectives to his fellow guardians. "It was as if the world around him had connected together becoming one!"

"Are you sure you're not going senile Volteer?" Cyril asked in disbelief. "I mean we are all getting old but I think you should lie down. It has been very exciting for your mind."

"I am not senile you pampered old fool." Volteer growled at Cyril in anger.

"What did you call me?" Cyril growled back. Both dragons rose from their spots and were in each others faces.

"Pampered. Old. Fool!" Volteer bellowed.

Cyril swung a claw at the electric guardian but he had jumped backwards swiftly to avoid it.

"That's enough!" Terrador shouted at the top of his lungs. Both Cyril and Volteer coward backwards to their spots. "We cannot be fighting amongst ourselves at a time like this! Both of you will retire to your rooms immediately!"

Volteer was the first to leave. "I would be more than happy to." He said. Electric currents buzzed off of his tail blade and zapped the walls around him as he passed.

Cyril scoffed and went out the opposite door. He blew a cloud if icy particles in the air and grumbled to himself as he left.

Terrador sighed. "Are they still upset about her..." He shook his head and looked deeply into the pool of vision. Nothing.

"Anything specific you like?" Cynder asked. A basket hung on the curve on her tail blade.

Gabriel's stomach growled again. "Anything sounds good right now."

Cynder giggled. "Well we might have some pekilia berry's over in the garden, they make a good meal, but they are a little sour." She suggested.

"Sure sounds nice." Gabriel smiled.

He was enjoying the hospitality that Cynder was showing him now. He had never experienced this feeling especially from a female. Friendship.

Cynder sniffed around for a moment and came to a small red bush with many white berry's growing on the branches. "Here they are, want to try one first?" She asked and plucked a pair of the pekilia berry's from a branch. She handed him one and threw the other in her mouth. Her faced scrunched up slightly and she shivered.

Gabriel popped his share into his mouth and shivered as well. "Wow those are delicious!" Gabriel exclaimed and picked a few dozen more of them.

Cynder giggled again. "Told you so." She smiled and helped him pick a few more for herself.

"Hey Cynder." Gabriel said when they started their trek back to the temple.

"Yeah?" Cynder said.

"Thanks." Gabriel said and blushed slightly.

Cynder blushed as well but thankfully her scales made it hard for him to tell. She decided to get a little even for earlier even though she had accepted his apology. "Ya' know, Spyro would probably kill me if he heard me say this, even though your not really a dragon, your kind of cute." She said and gave him a wink.

Gabriel's face was as red as a cherry now. He laughed nervously. "Thanks..." He said, and hung his head so as not to show how embarrassed he was.

Cynder laughed and nudged him with her elbow. "I was only kidding." She said.

"So does that mean you're calling me ugly then?" Gabriel said sarcastically.

"Can't take a joke huh?" Cynder giggled knowing full well that he was just trying to get on her nerves.

Gabriel laughed. "Got me."

Cynder joined in with him and laughed together as they walked back to her room.

Spyro had woken up a few minuets ago. The smell of the food had woke him from his light slumber and his stomach growled. He refused to eat though, he wasn't in the mood.

_'Where is Cynder?' _He asked himself.

He didn't need to wait long. A few moments later he heard laughter down the hallway that was hushed when it reached the door. The lock clicked again and the door opened slightly. Cynder walked in with the basket and placed it in front of the door.

"Hey Cynder." Spyro said quietly.

Cynder jumped in surprise and yipped slightly. "Oh you're awake."

"Sorry." Spyro said and averted his eye's.

"It's alright I just didn't think you'd be awake. You can come in if you want." Cynder called out to Gabriel who entered in after she asked.

"Hey Spyro." Gabriel said.

"Hey." Spyro said quietly. He was still pretty upset and Gabriel didn't want to say to much.

"Spyro you need to eat." Cynder said with concern when she realized he hadn't touched his food.

"Not hungry." Spyro said.

"Don't give me that crap Spyro, you eat more than anyone I know!" Cynder said. She giggled and moved towards him. She nudged the plate to his nose and the smell made his stomach growl again. "Now please, eat."

"I'm fine Cynder." Spyro said. His voice was raised a little more.

"Spyro please..." Cynder said.

"I said I'm fine!" Spyro shouted in her face and knocked the food away. The plate smashed on the wall and the food slid to the floor. Cynder coward backwards to the door. Spyro had never shouted at her like that.

Gabriel took a bold step forward. "Hey Spyro calm down, she's just trying to be nice." He said angrily. Upset or not that was no way to act.

"Leave me alone!" Spyro shouted louder than before. He spit a ball of fire at Gabriel defensively. Gabriel jumped backwards and the ball of fire hit the ground in front of him. Gabriel growled and took another step forward.

"Spyro!" Cynder shouted. "Why are you attacking him? We just want to help you!"

"I don't need your help and I don't need you!" Spyro shouted and shot another ball of fire at the bars on Cynders window and flew out.

"Spyro wait!" Cynder shouted. She was to late, he was gone.

"Cynder, let him go, he just needs to be alone right now." Gabriel said and patted her on her shoulder.

Cynder turned to him, her eye's full of tears. She buried her face in his side and fell to the floor.

Spyro flew through the trees and landed just outside of a swamp. In his anger he smashed a tree with his tail blade as he passed sending it crashing to the ground. He reared up to his hind legs and punched a tree continually until his paws started to bleed. The entire time he vented his anger, tears fell to the floor.

"Why!" He shouted as he continued to punch the tree. "Why do I have to deal with this, It's not fair!" Spyro screamed. "It's not fair, It's not fair, It's not fair!" Blood from his paws splattered the ground and when he couldn't continue he sent a beam of Convexity through the tree burning it, and several others behind it to ashes.

He fell to the floor and wept heavily on his bloodied paws. He cried himself to sleep that night. '_It's not fair...'_

Not far off Greg was watching him with an evil grin plastered to his face beneath his hood. "Should we now?" He asked.

A cold disembodied voice answered back. "No not yet, why should we do all the work when others will be so willing to do it for us?" Both Greg and the voice laughed maliciously into the night. Their plan was set.

Gabriel had slept inside Cynder's room on her floor to keep her company. Neither of them had touched the berry's they had picked the previous night and they were starting to get dry. Gabriel woke up with the sun shining on his face and he groaned slightly.

"Just five more minuets..." He said and rubbed his face. Once his eye's had adjusted to the light in the room he saw Cynder had curled up into a ball beside him. Her eye's were puffed up and her face was scrunched up into a frown.

_'She's really upset...' _He thought to himself. _'I guess I better go, Volteer is probably wanting to see me by now.'_

Gabriel sighed and grabbed a few berry's for his breakfast. An idea struck inside his mind when he did.

He looked back at Cynder and she was in a deep sleep. _'Maybe...' _He concentrated again on the world around him. He thought of the other side of Cynder's door and focused. When he opened his eye's he stood on the opposite side with the berry's safely in his paw.

Gabriel smiled and threw the berry's in his mouth as a triumphant little snack. He then hurried off to find Volteer.

Both Cyril and Volteer had finally calmed down by morning but didn't speak to each other and sat in silence by the pool of visions. Terrador watched them in case they tried anything again and noticed they weren't even making eye contact with each other.

Terrador sighed quietly to himself and shook his head. A tap on the door startled the guardians and Terrador moved to open it.

Gabriel waited on the other side sitting on his haunches when Terrador opened the door. "Good morning." Terrador said.

"I'm here to continue my training with Volteer." Gabriel said proudly.

"I see, he has told us some strange things about you." Terrador said. "Are they true?"

Gabriel nodded. He focused on Volteer's side and transported himself to the spot where he was looking. Volteer was startled by Gabriel and fell backwards in surprise.

Cyril would have laughed if he weren't ashamed that he was proven wrong. Still a grin from seeing his fellow guardian fall back tugged at the side of his mouth.

Terrador scratched his chin. "Very interesting." He said.

"I can also move things with me." Gabriel said and grabbed a small pebble from the floor. He transported himself to Terrador's side again and handed him the small stone.

"And apparently I can turn invisible or something." Gabriel said and shrugged his wings. "I can never tell that I'm doing it unless someone tells me or breaks my concentration." He pointed to Volteer who was now back on his feet.

"Volteer take him and help him practice with his new powers if you would." Terrador asked. "I will get Cynder and Spyro and help them prepare for next week."

Gabriel interrupted Terrador. "About that..."

Flame woke up with a terrible pain in his head. "Where am I?" He asked aloud.

"Oh good, you're awake." The healer that helped Gabriel said from behind him.

"Where am I, what happened?" Flame asked again.

"Do you remember anything?" The cheetah asked. He moved to where Flame could see him.

"No, nothing." Flame rubbed his head. "I have this headache that hurts like hell though."

"Well it looked like you got quite the beating, and from what the others have told me, Ember did as well."

"What!" Flame shouted raising himself off the bed. He clutched his shoulder in pain and fell to the bed again.

"Hey hey hey, slow down there buddy, you were attacked and held for a ransom, no doubt he intended to keep you but when he knew he wouldn't get his way he hurt you, so I wouldn't move around to much right now." The cheetah said trying to calm him down.

"Where is Ember?" Flame asked.

"I would speak to the guardians about that, it appears to be a need-to-know basis at the moment." The cheetah answered.

"Do we have any healing crystals?" Flame asked.

"Yes, we have one left that hasn't been used." He said and moved towards the bed where Gabriel was in.

He returned a moment later and gave the crystal to the dragon and the power flowed into him.

Flames bone popped back into place and he rolled his shoulder and sighed.

"Now I want you to take it easy for a little while, your bones are fixed but they still may be a bit sore, I'll let the guardians know that you're okay no-" The cheetah couldn't finish his sentence.

Flame had drilled his claw into the back of the cheetah's skull, killing him instantly. He quickly hid the body and licked the blood off of his claws. He walked out of the room with a grin on his face.

A black flame on his back glowed with red energy. "Where are you, Spyro." He said and walked off in search of his next target.

"Alright, since we now know you can move objects, lets try some that are a little bigger than just a berry or a pebble." Volteer said to the anxious Gabriel.

He couldn't keep his excitement contained. He never dreamed of powers like these... well not technically anyways.

He nodded and Volteer handed him a rock that was slightly bigger than the one before.

Gabriel concentrated again and transported himself to the targets from the day before and back with the rock still in his paw.

"Very good. Now lets test your reflexes and accuracy." Volteer said. "I will throw this rock and you have to catch it before it hits the ground."

Gabriel nodded and prepared himself. Volteer tossed the rock a good hundred feet before Gabriel tapped into his power and caught the rock just before it hit the ground.

"Very good and now that your over there." Volteer shouted from across the field. He signaled over several cheetah archers. "Lets test your reflexes!"

Gabriel gulped hard. "Uh oh..."

"Fire!" Volteer shouted. The cheetahs pulled back on the bow and let loose a flurry of arrows at the dragon.

Gabriel dodged a few but had to transport himself out of the way a couple of times.

Unbeknownst to him Volteer had given specific orders to the highly skilled archers not to hit him unless told so. Now was the time. "Alright hit him, but try not to kill him." He patted one of the archers on the back causing him to stumble forwards.

The cheetah growled slightly as Volteer merely chuckled as the archer steadied himself once more. The other archers had stop firing to let this one concentrate.

The archer pulled back just as the last arrow had missed Gabriel by inches and let go.

Gabriel panted. "Are they done?" Just as he said that another single arrow had grazed his cheek followed shortly after by more lone arrows. That could of taken his life. "What the hell!" He shouted. "Are you trying to kill me?"

Volteer laughed. "It's just one at a time now you can avoid them!" Volteer shot back.

"Not when they are actually trying." Gabriel retorted quietly to himself.

"Now." Volteer told the archer.

The archer shot several more arrows at the dragon. He aimed several life threatening arrows at him and just as he dodged one another took its place.

Gabriel growled as he avoided the arrows. The ground was wet due to the morning dew and it made his movements sloppy. Just as he dodged another arrow he slipped and one was shot directly at his face.

Gabriel shut his eyes tight and waited for the arrow to strike but it never did.

"Cease fire." Volteer said and flew over to the cowering dragon.

"Open your eye's." Volteer said.

Gabriel opened his eyes and saw what not only surprised him but the guardian and other cheetah's as well. The arrow tip stopped just short of his snout and hovered just above the ground. A faint golden glow surrounded the arrow as it hovered before the two dragons.

"D-did... Am I doing that?" Gabriel asked.

Volteer did not answer.

Gabriel stood up and the arrow followed his movements. He looked at the arrow hard and tried to concentrate on it as best as he could. The glow grew slightly brighter and Gabriel waved his paw over it. The arrow in turn flipped and faced towards the archers. The archers saw this and backed off and readied their weapons.

Gabriel rotated his body towards the targets behind him pointed at them. He let go of his minds grip on the arrow and it shot towards his mark at a lightning quick speed. Direct hit.

"So how did I do?" Gabriel asked without looking at the guardian behind him.

"Very extraordinarily, I suppose." Volteer said with a paw to his face. "I think we've done enough for today, go rest up."

"Will there be any arrows involved with my time off?" Gabriel asked with a slight scowl on his face.

Volteer didn't answer. Something had caught his attention and he walked off.

"Geez whats his problem?" He asked himself. He shrugged his shoulders and walked into the gardens for some peace and quiet.

Volteer had seen a red blur flash by in the trees behind Gabriel and hurried off. "What is he doing up?" He asked himself. He stopped in his tracks and flew back to the cheetah archers who started to walk off to go train elsewhere.

"Excuse me, would one of you mind going to the cheetah in charge of the infirmary and bring him here please, I need to speak to him." Volteer asked.

One of the cheetah's nodded and walked off to the infirmary. "Please hurry." Volteer asked the cheetah.

The cheetah nodded again and quickened his pace to a light jog to his destination.

"I pray I'm wrong." Volteer said to himself.

Spyro had woken up sore from sleeping on the ground all night and was slightly cold from the morning chill. He had calmed down drastically from the night before but a knot of guilt clenched his chest. He had yelled at Cynder, and why? Because he didn't get to talk with Ignitus. He knew it was selfish of him and at the time he didn't care but now he realized his actions were wrong and hung his head in shame as he slowly walked back to the temple trying to think up an apology for Cynder.

Spyro sighed deeply and breathed in. It was warmer now. How was that possible it was cold just a moment ago. Suddenly Flame had jumped out in front of Spyro.

"Oh hey Flame." Spyro said. He jerked his head up in surprise. "Flame?"

"Hey Spyro whats up?" Flame asked. He was still grinning.

"What are you doing up? They said your shoulder was broken yesterday." Spyro gazed at him in curiosity.

"Well its fine now see." Flame rolled both of his shoulders to prove he was fine. "See? All better."

"What are you doing out here?" Spyro asked. He remembered he had gone further in the forest the night before and nobody knew he was here except for Cynder and Gabriel. Flame couldn't have known he was out here unless they told him and he was far enough away so nobody could just wander into him. Why was he here?

"I could ask you the same thing." Flame said back. "This is pretty far out here, its quiet and nobody seems to be hanging around."

"I came for some peace." Spyro stated blandly as he glared at the dragon who was acting very strange.

Flame looked down at Spyro's paws and saw they were bleeding still. He licked his lips in and couldn't keep his paws still.

Spyro noticed what he was staring at and looked down. "Flame are you alright?" Spyro asked now backing away from Flame who started to take a few steps forward.

"Spyro, nobody is around here right?" Flame asked without fixing his gaze from Spyro's blood.

"Yeah..." Spyro said and backed up further from Flame.

"Good." The black flames started to burn once more. "Nobody will hear you then." Flame fixed his gaze on Spyro again with a vicious look in his eye's.

Terrador had been meditating while Cyril was reading a few scrolls. Cyril jotted down some notes from his reading and let out a sigh.

Terrador cracked an eye and gazed at the ice guardian. "What seems to be the problem Cyril?" Terrador asked.

"Nothing." Cyril said and turned his head away from his fellow guardian.

"Cyril you and Volteer have to let it go." Terrador sighed.

Cyril cringed slightly as if his mind had been read. "I don't know if I ever can..."

"She died doing what she loved and there was nothing you or he could have done. I know you both loved her dearly, but she is gone."

Cyril cursed under his breath. It had been several years since the apes raided the dragon eggs. It had been several years since their love had died.

"Cyril, I'm sorry." Terrador said breaking the silence that had lasted for several minuets.

"No. No... you're right." Cyril said and gave a heavy sigh, spewing out ice particles into the air.

Terrador gave a silent sigh just before a cheetah opened the door quickly.

"Master guardians." He said with a quick bow. Before Terrador could speak the cheetah continued. "Master Flame is missing and the body of the cheetah in charge of the infirmary has just been found."

"What!" Terrador shouted. He raised himself from his position and moved to the door. Cyril followed and the three hurried off.

"When did this happen?" Terrador asked the cheetah who was in a light jog to keep up with the large dragon.

"We do not know sir, Master Volteer asked me to go check on Master Flame and when i arrived he was nowhere in sight. I looked around the infirmary and found the cheetah stuffed in a closet in his office. And that's not the worst."

"Not the worst?" Terrador repeated.

The cheetah shook his head. "The body sir, it had puncture wounds. Made by a dragon."

Peace and quiet, and thankfully no arrows. Gabriel had ventured deep within the gardens to find a relaxing spot to hide in in case the guardians came looking for him. Once he found a spot he crossed his paws and rested his head. He sighed in comfort as his laziness soon brought him sleep.

Ignitus sat on his haunches reading one of many scrolls from his vast library. He was now the chronicler, so knowledge was his new interest. Thousands upon thousands of scrolls, documents, books, and other instruments of the world surrounded the pale blue dragon. He had just finished the scroll in front of him and jotted down notes of what he had learned.

Suddenly a small flash of light from behind the dragon and a loud thud issuing a small groan afterwards startled the chronicler.

Gabriel lay on the ground behind him.

"Dear me what are you doing here?" Ignitus asked stunned.

Gabriel groaned and rubbed his jaw. "What's with my face and the floor?" He asked himself rhetorically.

Ignitus cleared his throat and Gabriel turned around suddenly. "Well hello there young dragon." Ignitus said, still a little surprised by the sudden appearance of the gold dragon. "I had not been expecting you, not so soon at least."

"Where am I?" Gabriel asked as he continued to rub his jaw.

"This would be my library." The chronicler answered as he extended a paw that showed off his vast collection.

Gabriel was silent as he stared all around him. Never had he been to a library this big in his life. He loved a good book and this place was sure to have thousands!

"Now, may i ask why you are here?" Ignitus said, bringing the dragon's attention back.

"I'm not sure." Gabriel said. "I was just sitting in the gardens outside of the temple and i guess i fell asleep."

"It is very strange that you would visit me here through your dreams." Ignitus said. "Not many dragons can do what you've done."

Gabriel laughed under his breath._ 'Well there's another thing to make me different.'_

Ignitus peered behind Gabriel at a small pool of water that was very similar to the one in the temple. He looked down into the water and sighed.

"Well i do not have time, rather, you do not have time to talk with me at this moment."

"Why is that?" Gabriel asked. The chronicler was being very serious now.

Ignitus sighed again. "Try to contact me again soon, I will be waiting." Ignitus said and turned to the gold dragon.

Ignitus raised a paw. "What are you..." Gabriel said. He didn't need an answer.

A force that came from Ignitus' paw forced Gabriel through the wall without collision. He flew through the air at a lightning fast speed back wards.

His body jerked suddenly when his dream self had connected back with his real body.

The gardens before him were ablaze. Fire spread quickly around the flowers, bushes, and trees. Small animals scattered away from their homes as fast as they could. Those unlucky enough to escape in time were heard crying out in pain as the fire consumed them.

Gabriel acted quickly. He transported himself just outside of the gardens to see that it was completely destroyed. He growled angrily and saw both Spyro and Flame clashing behind him.

Gabriel's paws clenched tightly and his eye's glowed with golden energy. The destruction of the gardens had struck a nerve in him and he roared with anger.

Flame and Spyro were breathing heavily. Both dragons had accumulated several cut, burn, and bite wounds from their brawl. The black flames on the red dragon were slowly dying away as Flame started to run out of energy.

Gabriel walked over to the dragons who had paused momentarily. "Who destroyed the gardens!" Gabriel roared.

Spyro saw the anger in his eye's and pointed a finger at Flame so as not to get his wrath.

Flames face drained of color as Gabriel growled at him. Gabriel stood on his hind legs several feet back from Flame and reared his arm back to punch him.

"You're joking right?" Flame mocked, sticking his tongue out at the gold dragon.

It only took a second. Gabriel swung his paw at the dragon who stood still thinking the gold dragon was crazy. Gabriel transported himself right in front of Flame and his fist connected with his snout.

The punch was strong enough to send the red dragon back several feet. Flame saw stars just before he passed out.


	9. Chapter 8

**As I have said before; This will now be posted as a rated M story. All further updates, character bios, and other things will be posted on my profile page. I will try to post an update every monday/tuesday for story development and I will try to get at least two to three chapters a month. Thank you.**

* * *

><p>The golden energy dispersed from Gabriel's body and he fell into the dirt.<p>

Gabriel walked over to Flame's body. He was flat out unconscious and his nose was bleeding from the punch.

Spyro walked over to Flame and sat down on his haunches. Flame had done a number on Spyro and he rubbed his burns and cuts gently.

"Thanks for the help, he was really getting on my nerves." Spyro said.

Gabriel turned to Spyro and struck him in the face, sending him a few feet backwards.

"W-What was that for?" Spyro groaned as he rubbed his jaw. It wasn't broken but damn near close to.

Gabriel transported himself on top of Spyro and brought his tail blade to his throat. A slight shimmer of the golden light surrounded Spyro's body.

"Let's get a few things straight here," Gabriel said as he peered into Spyro's eyes. "First off, I haven't been here more than a week and I already don't like you. Cynder was still crying this morning from what you did and said to her last night. Quite frankly if 'I' was her, I wouldn't speak to you ever again. You act like a little cry baby just because Ignitus came and left. But what about her? She misses him as much as you do, if not more, yet she still comforted you when you were acting like such a little bitch! Ignitus said that he would contact you as soon as he could, so just get over it." Gabriel pressed his tail blade closer to Spyro's throat and drew a small trickle of blood. "Now, first you are going to put out the fire that you made in the gardens, then you are going to go to Cynder and apologize for what you did. I don't care what she says or what she does, you are not to say or do anything, do I make myself clear?"

Spyro gulped hard and nodded his head.

"Good, I'm glad we understand each other." Gabriel said and patted Spyro on the cheek with the blunt end of the blade. The golden aurora dispersed from Spyro's body as Gabriel got off him. He walked away but turned to Flame and pointed at him "And take that piece of shit with you when you're done!" He yelled at Spyro.

Spyro lifted himself off of the dirt and snorted a few flames from his nostrils.

Something tapped his shoulder. "I saw that." Gabriel said, and whacked him on the head. Before Spyro had a chance to react Gabriel disappeared again.

Spyro growled quietly and walked into the gardens. The fire still burned around him, torching bushes, trees, and the animals that had once called it a home. A spray from his ice breath put out the flames quickly.

Once the flames had been put out, Spyro took a moment to find his hideaway. Since more than half of the gardens had been scorched by the fire and all that remained were ashes, and it didn't take him very long to find it. He sighed with relief when he saw that the surrounding area had not been touched by the fire and that it was still hidden very well.

Spyro walked out of the gardens and over to Flame. Spyro slammed a paw to the dirt and a tomb of earth encased Flame's body, pinning his limbs to his side tightly. Flame grumbled softly but did not wake up. Spyro then flicked his tail up and a small bump under Flame popped up and moved along with Spyro as he walked back to the temple.

Volteer had gone to inform the other guardians of what he had seen and was shocked to find out that Flame had killed the chief healer in the infirmary moments before. All of the guardians walked together to the front of the temple quickly. They had almost reached the front gates when bumped into someone in his hurry.

"Excuse us." Volteer said. He glanced back and realized he had pushed over Gabriel. "Oh Gabriel!" He said. The others turned to see Gabriel picking himself off the ground.

Gabriel sighed and sat on his haunches. "Can't get a break this morning." He mumbled to himself.

"What was that?" Volteer asked.

"Uh, I said Spyro should be bringing that red dragon here any minute now." Gabriel said.

"So has Flame decided to come quietly?" Cyril asked.

Gabriel smiled inwardly. "In a manner of speaking, yes." He shrugged his wings and sighed. "Now if you don't mind, I'm going to go back to sleep. Getting shot at by arrows, almost dying in a fire and taking care of that dragon Flame first thing in the morning wasn't exactly what I wanted to do. So again, if you don't mind I will bid you ado." Gabriel bowed down with a cocky smile and disappeared out of sight a moment later.

"Should we have someone follow him around for a while?" Cyril asked Terrador. "Just in case his brother decides to go after him again."

"I suppose that would be for the best." Terrador said as he rubbed the back of his neck. "I personally think we should give him some space, this must really be hard on him right now, but some protection might be a good idea."

"Should I go and find Hunter and see if he is willing?" Volteer asked.

"No need, I'll look after him." Hunter said from behind them.

Cyril jumped slightly and Volteer chuckled to himself.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." Hunter apologized. "I'll follow him and if he runs into any danger I will protect him." Hunter bowed and walked out of sight.

"I hate it when he does that." Cyril said.

Volteer chuckled again but Cyril noticed him that time. When the electric guardians back was turned, Cyril blew a cold mist over his body.

Volteer shivered slightly and looked out an opening with a view of the sky. "Is it almost winter season already?" He asked himself.

Terrador looked at Cyril. He rolled his eyes when he saw that Cyril was snickering at Volteer behind his back. "Come on lets go, Spyro is probably at the entrance by now." Terrador said and waved his wing for the others to follow. Cyril and Volteer nodded and continued on to their destination.

Cyril was having a hard time keeping a straight face as Volteer continued to look to the sky, expecting snow or other signs that the winter season was approaching.

Spyro had brought Flame to the steps of the temple and could go no further. He panted heavily and sat down. The binding earth around Flame crumbled to the ground and he fell with a thud.

Two moles saluted Spyro as they passed by him. Before they could continue their patrolling Spyro had stopped them and asked for their assistance in getting Flame up the steps.

They still had no idea of what Flame had done, and gave each other confused looks but followed their orders. Once they were finally up the steps Spyro thanked them for their assistance and sent them back to their duties.

"Spyro!" Terrador exclaimed when he saw Flame unconscious by his side. Terrador gave him a hard pat on the shoulder. "Thank you for taking care of Flame for us." He said.

Spyro rubbed his now sore shoulder. "Well, Gabriel's the one who knocked Flame out, I just brought him here." Spyro said.

"In any case, we need to question him now." Terrador said. "Would you mind bringing him to the cells down in the lower halls?"

"Uh, yeah sure, no problem." Spyro said.

Spyro turned and had lifted Flame halfway onto his back when he remembered Gabriel's words to him. He set Flame back down onto the ground and faced Terrador again. "Actually I need to do something first if that's alright with you?" Spyro said. "Cynder and I…" He was silenced by Terrador's paw.

"Say no more, we already know of the situation." Terrador said.

Spyro hung his head low to the ground as a knot of guilt clenched his chest tightly.

Terrador sighed. "Go to her now, we will discuss the punishment of your actions another time."

Spyro lifted his head and nodded but continued to look at the ground. Spyro walked around the guardians and headed off to Cynder's room.

He walked through the halls of the temple in silence. Birds chirped cheerfully as they played in a small fountain on one of the many balconies of the temple. He smiled as they stared at him with cocked heads as he passed. Once he was out of sight they continued their playful chirping.

He continued to walk down the halls until the chirps died away and lost his mind in thought. What was he going to say to her? Just a "I'm sorry Cynder, please forgive me?" No. That wouldn't be good enough. He loved her, but after what he did, after what he said, and over something so stupid, would she still love him back? Thoughts of doubt plagued his mind and before he knew it, he was already outside Cynder's room.

He sighed and took a deep breath as he raised his paw to the door.

Cynder had moved from the spot where she slept in the morning, back to her bed as soon as Gabriel had left.

She sighed for what seemed as the hundredth time as the sound of footsteps or the tapping of talons on the stone floor, which turned out to be a guard patrolling around had brought her hopes up, and sent them crashing back down.

She had stopped crying over Spyro leaving with some self-pep talk. "Come on, get a hold of yourself," or "You're tougher than this." It brought her mood up, but only slightly.

Her eyes drooped from lack of sleep and the sting of her salty tears didn't make it any better. She closed her eyes and dozed off momentarily, but a knock on the door brought her back.

Cynder removed herself from her bed and walked just in front of the door. "Come in." She said.

Spyro gulped hard, unlocked the door and pushed it open. Cynder stood in the doorway with her paw raised and Spyro braced himself as she struck him across the face, leaving three talon scratch marks on his cheek.

Spyro refused to rub his stinging cheek and straightened himself back up.

"Cynder I… I'm sorry." Was all he said. Never had he thought he could lower his head so far without laying it on the ground.

Cynder didn't respond with words. Instead her dry eyes became filled with tears and she fell onto his chest and Spyro supported her with his weight.

"I'm sorry Cynder," Spyro apologized again. "What I did was stupid and childish, and I promise I'll never do something like that again."

Cynder pushed off of Spyro's chest so she could face him. "How can I trust you? All Gabriel and I did was try to help you and you yelled at me and attacked him."

Spyro was speechless. "I… I didn't…"

"You didn't what Spyro? You didn't try to hurt someone who's brother just kidnapped Ember and attacked him while he was still in recovery? It takes a lot of nerve to do something like that. I love you Spyro but if you can't control yourself than were done!"

Cynder slammed the door in his face and walked to her bed.

"Cynder!" Spyro shouted from the other side of the door. "Cynder I said I was sorry for everything, what else do you want from me?"

"Go away Spyro, I don't want to talk to you right now." She yelled back.

"Damn it Cynder, come out here now!" Spyro bellowed. His temper was rising to its max.

"Go away, and don't come back! I will never be you're mate! I hate you!"

"That's it!" Spyro screamed. He breathed in deep and shot an earth missile at the door sending it flying off its hinges.

"Spyro what are you doing?" Cymder screamed. She backed up to the wall as Spyro advanced towards her.

Spyro's eyes were glowing white, a dark aurora surrounded his body like flames and snapped violently in several directions. He had fallen to darkness again.

"I've had it with you Cynder!" He yelled. His voice echoed over and over each one darker than the last. "I'm tired of waiting, if I can't have you, no one will!"

"Y-You wouldn't!" She said in disbelief. She backed up further and into the wall. She was cornered.

"Oh I would." Spyro said and licked his lips. "Now we can do this the easy way." Spyro cracked his neck sideways. "Or the hard way."

"N-Never!" Cynder screamed and made a dash for the door.

"Hard way it is then."

Spyro shot black flames at the door way and blocked her exit. Cynder tried to fan out the flames with her wings but they didn't even flicker.

"I told you Cynder; you're going to be mine now." Spyro said.

"Get away from me!" Cynder screamed and slashed Spyro in the face.

Spyro growled angrily and swung his tail around hooking Cynder in the side of her head. The force from the hit sent her flying to the wall.

The blow stunned her leaving her dazed and disoriented. Spyro took his chance to get on top of Cynder, putting pressure on her so she couldn't move. He spread her legs apart and she came flying back to reality.

"N-No!" She screamed as Spyro inserted his member inside her.

With each thrust from Spyro, he clenched harder onto Cynder, causing her forearms to bleed.

Cynder had never experienced this feeling before. Even though she pleaded for him to stop, the physical and emotional pain killing her, she… enjoyed it. The thought of her enjoying this pleasure disgusted her beyond imagination.

She had always wanted a mate, she had always wanted _him _as her mate, but not like this. Not when he forced it onto her. It wasn't right, this wasn't him.

Spyro's thrusts became harder and faster causing Cynder to let out short gasps and moans. The sound of Cynder moaning drove Spyro insane and made him thrust harder and harder. After several minutes Spyro gave one final push and groaned with relief as he finished.

Cynder didn't have the luxury of relief. Instead she writhed in excruciating pain as Spyro lifted off of her and walked away. When the pain subsided and she saw the damage he had done to her she curled into a ball and passed out.

'_Why…?'_

"Cynder." A voice called out from the darkness.

She could not hear the voice, she didn't want to hear the voice, all she wanted was to die. Spyro had destroyed her, leaving her broken and alone.

"Cynder." The voice said again.

Cynder felt something prodding her shoulder and she lifted her head and blinked several times to get adjusted to the minimal lighting.

"Cynder are you alright?" It was Spyro.

Cynder's eyes widened in horror and she scrambled away from him.

"Cynder what's wrong? I heard you scream when I was outside your door, are you alright?" Spyro said.

"Get away from me!" She howled.

Spyro took a step forward. "Cynder what's the matter?" He asked.

"Y-You tried to… to…" She couldn't hold it in any more. She lunged at him in a fit of tears and rage and pinned him to the floor. She snarled in his face and brought her tail blade up to the side of her head ready to strike.

"Cynder stop!" Gabriel yelled. He had just arrived followed by several armed guards.

Cynder shot a ball of acid at Gabriel. He shoved the guards away and dodged the ball into the room. He shut the door and turned to Cynder.

"What the hell are you doing?" He asked.

"Get away from me! I'm going to kill him for what he did!" Cynder yelled.

Spyro closed his eyes and turned his head so he wouldn't see her face when she killed him. "I'm sorry Cynder." He whispered.

Cynder was about to strike but when she saw his cheek she gasped. His claw marks that she had given him were gone. Her tail fell limp to the floor and she backed off from Spyro. '_It was a…'_

Tears filled her eyes and her lip trembled violently. "Spyro I… I…" took several steps backwards. "I'm sorry!" she cried. She turned to fly out the window but Gabriel was already there to block her exit.

"Cynder." He said calmly and put a paw on her shoulder. The same aurora that surrounded Spyro now surrounded Cynder and she stood frozen in place. Gabriel focused his mind on the dragoness and after a few moments he withdrew his paw. He whispered something to her and walked over towards Spyro. "Forget what I said before," He said to the confused dragon. "I think it's best we give her a few minutes."

"But I…" Spyro said.

"Now!" Gabriel bellowed.

Spyro didn't object. He looked at Cynder one last time before leaving her room.

The guards had the same golden glow around them as Cynder and were frozen on the floor. Only when Gabriel waved a paw over them were they freed of the bond. "Sorry about that please leave now." Gabriel said.

"We do not take orders from you." One of the guards piped up.

"I could always let you go in there alone with Cynder." Gabriel said and smiled slyly.

The other moles cleared their throats and tugged on the mole who spoke to him. "Y-Yes sir." They all said and hurried off, dragging the so called 'brave' mole with them.

"Do you mind telling me what the hell has gotten into her?" Spyro asked.

"I can't tell you just yet," Gabriel said. "Just give her a few hours and she should be fine."

Gabriel walked off and waved a wing to Spyro. "Later." He disappeared from Spyro's sight a second later.

Spyro looked back at the door to Cynder's room and sighed. He walked away and headed to the lower halls of the temple to meet with the guardians.

The golden glow that surrounded Cynder's body dispersed and she shot around quickly to see Gabriel lying on the floor rubbing his temples gently.

"Damn it hurts when I do that." He mumbled to himself. Cynder cleared her throat to get his attention. "Oh, sorry about that, I just didn't want you to make the same mistake he did."

"What did you do to me?" She asked.

"Some other time." He said and shook his paw so she would drop the subject. "Now, I can tell you're afraid of Spyro, mind telling me why?"

Cynder gave a nervous laugh. "Wh-What? Me, afraid of him? That's ridiculous." She said and laughed nervously.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Gabriel said and rolled his eyes. "I know he is a dumbass and what he did was stupid but there is no reason for you to try and kill him." Gabriel said.

Cynder bit her tongue and hung her head. She cursed to herself quietly.

Gabriel sighed. "Look, if you don't want to tell me I understand, I can leave if you want."

He began to walk to the door but Cynder stopped him. "N-No, don't go." She said.

Cynder hesitated momentarily, but after a few seconds she finally caved in and started to explain her dream to him.

"So when I woke up and saw Spyro, I just freaked out." She said after she finished.

Gabriel was speechless. _'Damn,' _He thought to himself and rubbed the back of his neck.

Cynder began to tear up and Gabriel walked over to her and put his paw on her shoulder. "I… I'm sorry Cynder." He said and gave a small sigh. "Hey, you're freezing." He said and removed his paw. "Go lay down, I'll go get some more covers for you."

Gabriel turned back to the door again but was stopped by Cynder. "Wait," She said. Her face burned with embarrassment, she did not want to be with Spyro at the moment, and Gabriel was still a complete stranger to them, but she needed to be with someone. "Would you mind staying here with me?" She asked.

Gabriel was still facing the door so she couldn't see that his cheeks were bright red. "S-Sure." He stuttered. "I'm just going to be sleeping if that's alright with you?"

Cynder smiled. "Thank you." She said. She jumped up to her bed and turned to see Gabriel curling up in the same spot he did the night before. "You don't have to sleep on the floor you know, there is room up here for the both of us." She said and scooted over allowing a spot for him to sleep on the bed.

"I'll be fine, thanks though." He said and rested his head on his paws.

Cynder frowned at his response. "Fine," She huffed and jumped down from her bed and walked over by his side. "Then if you won't take my offer I'll just stay here with you."

Gabriels turned his head away. His cheeks were on fire. "Wh-Whatever." He said, and closed his eyes.

Cynder blushed when she realized what she had said. She gave a nervous giggle and curled up by him with a foot apart for some space.

Gabriel was exhausted and it only took a few minutes before he was asleep. Cynder was laying on her side watching his chest rise and fall and occasionally he would give a small shiver. Until he rolled over, Cynder thought that he was just cold.

His eyes were filled with tears and he was frowning, obviously having a bad dream. His chest was now exposed and showed the markings on his chest. They had closed and had formed scars, yet they were glowing with a red energy that was hot to the touch.

Cynder sighed and moved closer to the sleeping dragon and draped a wing over him for some warmth. When she did Gabriel's face changed from a frown to a small comforted smile. After a few minutes, Cynder's eyes shut and she joined him in the comfort of sleep.

Gabriel floated above a black and white street where two young boys walked together alone. They had handmade back packs on that looked like they would fall apart if any more weight was added to them.

Gabriel moved closer to them to get a look at their faces. Both of their heads were hung but he knew who they were. He could never forget this day, how could he? He and his brother were walking home after another long day at school. He had gotten in a fight and was given a black eye as a result, and his brother tried to help him, but was rewarded with a bloody nose. That was an average day for them at school. Nobody helped them, for whatever reason, they didn't know. Nobody cared that they were constantly picked on, teased, beaten up, it didn't matter, nobody cared.

The two turned a corner and were stopped by a small group of kids who were older and a lot bigger than them.

"Well, well, well, look at what we have here." The group leader said. "Where's mommy, or daddy? Do they not know that you got your asses handed to you again?" He asked. His friends snickered behind him.

"Leave us alone," The younger Gabriel muttered.

"What was that? I didn't quite here you." The bully said and put his hand to his ear. He leaned in so close that he was almost nose to nose with Gabriel.

"He said leave us alone." Greg answered for him. He raised his head and stared at the bully in the eyes.

The bully turned to Greg and punched him in the face, sending him several feet backwards. "I asked him, not you." He said and pointed towards Gabriel who was standing still, afraid to go help his fallen brother.

Greg spat some blood on the ground and wiped his mouth. "Whatever." He said and turned his head away.

"That's better, now, what did 'you' say?" He asked again to Gabriel.

Gabriel hung his head again. "Nothing." He said.

"I don't think it was 'Nothing,' now tell me what you said you little shit head." He said and grabbed Gabriel by the collar of his shirt and pulled it up so he would face him.

Gabriel spat in his face and punched him in the stomach. The bully reared back and wiped the spit off of his face. "Get them!" He shouted to the others behind him.

Greg had just picked himself up and was about to run away with his brother but was picked up from behind by a boy twice his size. He squirmed and tried to get away but that only made the bully laugh. "You're not going anywhere." He said and threw him to the floor. He kicked his side several times until he was satisfied with his beating.

"Greg!" Gabriel shouted. He too was picked up by one of the bullies and was held back as he watched his brother being beaten. Gabriel reared his head back and slammed it into the bully's nose. He was dropped to the floor and scrambled to his brother's aid. He jumped onto the back of his brothers attacker but was swung off and hit a metal fence.

"Bring him out!" The leader shouted. Another bully appeared from behind some bushes and was carrying a small dog by the scruff of its neck.

"No!" Both of the brothers shouted as they saw the prisoner that was being held before them.

"This is what you get whenever you try to make a fool of us." The leader said. The one who was holding the dog handed it over to the leader along with a small lead pipe.

Gabriel was watching above them all as the rest unfolded. He did not turn his head away like his younger counter part. He watched as the bullies took turns in striking the dog repeatedly with a blank expression on his face. While his younger self and brother cried out for them to stop and the dogs whines grew louder, he was only filled with rage. His teeth were barred and he growled angrily. He closed his eyes and dropped to the ground in front of them.

Their color changed from black and white to normal but the younger Gabriel and his brother were frozen. The dog had died, a pitiful broken shape lying on the pavement. They all laughed and turned to the two brothers. They froze froze as a gold dragon was advancing towards them, snarling.

They all scrambled backwards as the rage filled gold dragon raised a claw and struck their leader. His face was torn away from the slash and blood splattered the sidewalk. Before he could fall to his knees, Gabriel swatted him away like a fly and continued towards the others.

They could not escape. The gold energy surrounded their bodies, freezing them in place. He made quick work of them.

He knew this was his dream, he knew it was his nightmare. He could control the properties of the dream such as creating things, and morphing them as he pleased, but he could not change the outcome. He and his brother suffering the loss of a friend to the bullies and the beatings. He had killed them many times, in hopes that it would relieve the pain he felt, hoping that if he killed them, it would destroy his memory of it. But it never helped and this time was no different, aside from his new body and powers.

He used his control of the dream to revive the gang of bullies and slaughtered them over, and over. He relished the feeling, as their blood covered his claws and face as he attacked them in a blind rage. It was maddening.

"Gabriel!" A voice shouted from behind him. He could not hear the voice, he was losing his sanity in here, in his nightmare.

"Gabriel stop it!" The voice shouted again. He heard it this time and turned to see Cynder behind him. She was terrified.

He looked at himself. His claws and face were covered in blood. His scars burned brightly and sizzled the blood that dripped onto it. His eyes had lost their lustrous gold color, all emotion was gone from his face, all except for rage and hatred.

He turned back to the cowering group of boys and growled angrily. The group crawled backwards and when one attempted to run, Gabriel froze them all again and roared into the air.

The ear piercing scream scrambled the boys' minds, their eyes and ears bled and they all dropped to the floor.

Gabriel walked further down the street and stepped on one of the boy's heads, crushing his skull in. Cynder ran around him in order to stop him, but he merely phased through her body like a ghost and continued to walk.

When he passed she shouted at him again. "Gabriel!"

He continued walking down the street but this time he answered her. "I don't know how you got here but I suggest you leave." He said sorrowfully.

She trailed up behind him again. "Where am I?" She asked. "Where are we, and who were they?"

"I don't want to talk about it." He said and turned down an alley way.

Cynder ran in front of him again and placed a paw on his shoulder but it did not phase through like before. "Gabriel." She said. "Please, it's not good to keep things like that to yourself."

"You would know." Gabriel said and looked away.

Cynder hung her head as her memories of slaughtering thousands as her past life returned to her.

Gabriel sighed and looked back at her. "I... I'm sorry," He said. "If you must know, this was a day back in my world." He said. The younger version of his self and his brother appeared by his side. "The one with the black eye was me, and that was my brother." He said pointing at the two.

Gabriel closed his eyes and they appeared in front of a run-down building with several children running around in the front. Cynder was surprised by the sudden change of scenery but her attention was brought back to the blood covered gold dragon.

"We grew up here together, in this orphanage. We never knew our parents, and for as long as we can remember, we've been here, in this shit hole." He said and sighed again. "And today was the day when we ran away from here, after our dog was killed we just couldn't take this place anymore. Nobody cared for us, all except for the dog, we didn't fit in, we always were picked on, beat up, tortured as I'm sure you saw earlier. We tried to talk to the adults but they ignored us." His eyes were beginning to fill with tears. "We ran away and every night since, when it didn't involve you two, I would dream of this day. When we ran away and lived on our own we thought we would feel relieved, but this nightmare still haunts me, and I assume my brother as well."

He started to get choked up now and couldn't talk any more. Cynder's eyes were filled with tears for the gold dragon. "I'm sorry." She said. She walked over to the dragon and draped a wing around his side. They fell to the floor and Gabriel started to cry as all his memories returned to him.

"I can't take it any more!" He said between sobs. "I just want to forget this day, forget my old life in my world, but it can never happen."

Cynder sighed and nudged his head up with her snout so he would look at her. "I know how you feel," She said. "I have killed thousands and every day I wish I could take it all back, but I know that I can't. Even though so many people try to bring up my past and remind me of what I have done, I remind myself; Look forward to tomorrow, forget the past and focus on what is in front of you."

He smiled and whipped his nose. "Th-Thank you." He said. He blushed and turned his head away again.

Cynder giggled and nudged him with her hip. "Come on, if this is a dream and you can control it, clean yourself up and lets go do something that doesn't involve so much pain."

The blood that covered his body did not disappear. He continued to look away and shook his head. "I've tried." He said. "No matter what I do, I can't alter anything until after it happens since this is all basically a memory." He sighed and rested his head back down on his paws. He picked his head up and looked at Cynder again. "One question though, how are you in here?"

Cynder blushed and looked away. "Well I uh... I'm kind of sleeping next to you." She said. "You looked cold so I... moved closer to keep you warm, but I don't know how I'm here." Her face turned dark purple.

You would think he was a fire dragon with how red his face and body became. He cleared his throat so he wouldn't stutter as much. "I think I might know," He said and turned away. "But anyways... thanks..."

Both dragons were looking away from each other for several minutes. Gabriel broke the silence when he stood up. He laughed nervously and his legs were shaking slightly. "I'm probably gonna' regret this." He mumbled to himself.

Cynder stood with him and cocked her head. "Huh?" She said.

He gave a nervous laugh. "I think it's ironic." He said.

"What's ironic?" She asked.

"I lived my whole life as a human and now that I'm a dragon I feel like I fit in more, aside from my powers. And I never liked any girls back in my old world... and now..." He turned away and his face was burning red.

He wasn't being direct, but Cynder understood what he was implying. "Thank you," She said and blushed. "I know that Spyro may not be the perfect dragon but I still love him all the same. I think it's sweet that you think of me that way, but I cannot think of you as you do me. I'm sorry." She stood up and turned away. She walked down the street leaving Gabriel alone.

Gabriel sighed quietly to himself. "Whatever." He said, and turned away as well.

Pieces of his memory shattered around him like glass. It slowly started to crumble away as the pain in his chest grew and grew. The ground below his feet broke away but he continued to walk on into a black void. When he was far enough away from his memory that it was only a spec in the distance, he let loose an agonized roar. It grew louder and louder and when his voice could no longer sustain the roar he choked up and started to fall.

He fell and fell into the darkness around him. It was an void of nothingness and had no ending in sight. His tears escaped his eyes and drifted above him as he continued onto his descent.

Cynder sighed as she opened her eyes. Hunter had fallen asleep on the wall adjecent to the door, in his hand his bow was gripped so he would be ready for anything at a moments notice. Gabriel was still asleep but was turned away from her. His scars were burning again but he didn't wake up. Cynder got up and nudged Hunter awake.

Hunter aimed his bow at Cynder and she jumped back defensively. Hunter rubbed his eyes and withdrew his bow when he realized who he was aiming at. "Sorry." He said and stood up. "The guardians told me to watch over him and I'm a little on edge after what happened."

"What happened?" She asked. The attack from his brother was a few days ago and everyone for the most part had calmed down over it. Their defenses were tighter so another attack would be pointless, so why was Hunter still on edge?

"It's Flame, he killed the chief of the infirmary and attacked Spyro this morning." He explained.

Cynder gasped. "He did what?" She said. "Why would Flame do such a thing?"

Hunter merely shrugged. "Nobody knows, we are still waiting for him to wake up, but that was over twelve hours ago." He said.

"How long have I been asleep?" She asked and looked out the window. It was night out already and the crickets and other night time bugs buzzed around outside. The songs of the daytime birds were replaced with the hoots of owls and the croaks and chirps of the nighttime frogs and bugs.

"About the same amount of time." He said. "Gabriel knocked Flame out, and knocked in a little sense into Spyro." Hunter gave a small chuckle. "I heard from guards who saw him say that he was extremely angry with him and looked like he was ready to kill him."

Cynder looked back at the gold dragon who was still asleep. She sighed and nodded. "I can understand why, but how have I been asleep for almost the entire day? It only felt like a few minutes."

Hunter shrugged. "I can't say, but from the looks of you two sleeping together you seemed very distressed."

"You don't know the half of it." Cynder said, and hung her head.

Hunter took the hint to drop the subject and looked at the glowing scars. "Cynder, what's up with the markings his brother gave him? They seem to be getting hotter." He said.

It was getting hotter. The scars snapped and sizzled as pieces of his scales were burnt away around them. Then all of a sudden it stopped. The scars ceased glowing and burning, but now he began to shake violently.

Gabriel stopped falling. Now he was in another memory. It was of the previous night with Cynder in the gardens as they picked the berries.

He sighed and approached the dragoness. His memory replayed over and over as the walked into the temple and reappeared in the gardens. He rested his head on his paws and watched her as she walked, talked, swayed her hips playfully, her face when she ate the berry, he loved everything about her, and he hated everything about himself.

"You're a human, not a dragon." He repeated to himself. Why did he like her?

For what seemed like hours, he watched the time they spent together. He knew it was stupid, and she was already in love with someone else, and he knew it was wrong.

He sighed sadly, ruffling the grass in front of him.

_"___It makes you furious to see Spyro with her, doesn't it?___" __A_ voice in his mind asked.

Gabriel heard the voice and subconsciously agreed.

_"___If you want her you should have her, correct?"__

Gabriel nodded his head, his eyes were drooped and he looked as if he was in a trance.

_"___You know what you must do. She loves Spyro, but if he was not around, she would be all yours. You must kill Spyro."__

"I must kill Spyro?" He opened his eyes and shook his head. "What am I saying?" He looked down and a shadow covered him and the ground in front of him. He did not have time to react as a giant claw struck him away.

He hit a tree and coughed hard as the wind was knocked out of him.

"Stupid boy," The voice said. Gabriel's eyes opened wide as he saw Malefor standing before him.

Everything about him was as terrifying as he imagined he would be. He had cold, yellow eyes that could pierce through the souls of even the toughest of beings. Battle scars covered his face and body, his wings were rippled and had several cuts through them. He was smiling as he stood over the stunned dragon on the floor.

"Get up. Now!" He shouted and swung his tail around. The blunt side of his tail spade made contact with Gabriel's face and sent him flying through the air.

He tried to stand but failed and fell to the ground. "I need to wake up." He groaned quietly to himself. He moved his tail blade to his throat but something bit down hard on it and prevented him from moving.

He yelped as the grip on his tail was getting tighter and tighter. He looked back an saw a black dragon, about the same size as him with lightning shaped ivory horns biting down on his tail. The black dragon was crying as he clenched harder and harder onto his tail. Gabriel tried to use his power to escape the black dragon, but nothing happened. He tried to freeze the dragon or send him flying away, but again nothing worked.

Gabriel screamed in pain as the black dragon squeezed as hard as he could and ripped off his tail from the point where he bit down.

Blood poured from the loss of his tail and he could not move his body. He was to weak from the amount of blood he was losing, but he remained conscious the entire time.

The black dragon cast away the tail and moved to Malefor's side.

"Good work, Greg." Malefor said and patted the black dragon on the back.

His brother looked up and smiled. "Thank you master." He said.

Gabriel was speechless. That was not his brother. He would never do something like that to him, never. He knew Malefor was twisted and would do anything to get under anyone's scales, but somehow he had succeeded.

Malefor laughed and walked towards the gold dragon. "It must be hard to use your powers at night?" He asked with a smile. "And I bet your wondering how we are here?" Gabriel didn't have time to refute as Malefor continued. "Well, I found out that you and your brother share dreams, against his own will of course, and that in the dreams you can withstand a substantial amount of pain in them and that the only way for you to wake up is to die. So I figured that if I can, '_persuade'_you to do what I say, I might just let him go."

Gabriel spat blood from his mouth onto Malefor's paws. "That is not my brother and I will never do what you say!" Gabriel said.

Malefor ignored his attempt at insulting him and moved closer so he could whisper. "In dreams your image is represented by your soul. What you see when you are awake is how he was when he arrived in this world and I must say, it is not pretty, but in time he will become like us." Malefor said. "And since we are in the subject about dreams you should remember this; every time you sleep, every time you shut your eyes for a little rest, I will be there. I am going to break you eventually, so you might as well give in. Do as I say and I will release you and your brother. Defy me and I will see to it that your life will be a living hell." Malefor placed a paw on his forearms and forced them down hard. They snapped loudly and Gabriel cringed with pain but did not cry out. He would not give Malefor the satisfaction of him being weak.

He was beginning to lose consciousness and was slipping away from shock but Malefor would not allow that relief. He raised a paw to the air and a second later one of the black crystal shards appeared in his grip. He moved it down to Gabriel's right eye. "These things are marvelous, if I do say so myself." He said. "They can corrupt even the purest of heart and can cause an unbelievable amount of pain to one who is marked by them when darkness is around, as I assume you have realized." He laughed and placed the tip of the shard just above Gabriel's brow. "I will leave you with this parting gift, and just remember; three months time is all you have." He said and laughed as he shoved the shard into his brow and started to carve downwards.

"He's not waking up!" Cynder shouted. They dumped another bucket of water on his face and washed away the foam around his mouth. They slapped him, shook him more than his body was already doing, and yelled at him to wake up, all to no success. A cut above his right eye appeared and started to move downwards slowly.

"Spyro, Volteer give him a shock!" Hunter said.

Spyro and the guardians had come as soon as they had heard from Hunter of what was happening. They were all confused as to what was going on but now was not the time for questions. They needed to wake him up, and fast.

Volteer and Spyro nodded and shot small bolts of lightning onto Gabriel's body.

Gabriel screamed as Malefor crossed his eye and moved downwards with the shard. A bolt of lightning struck the ground next to Malefor and made him jump back. He laughed and threw the shard away. "We must leave now, but before I go I must ask one thing from you." Malefor said. Gabriel could not reply, he was to weak. "If you wouldn't mind, I would like for you to let me know how your father is doing. He is getting very old by now but I think that he should remember." Malefor returned to his side and whispered something in his ear.

Gabriel's eyes widened but was to weak to object.

Another bolt of electricity struck the ground next to Gabriel. Malefor turned to Greg. "Come slave, we are leaving!" He shouted. He turned to smoke a moment later and disappeared.

"W-Why?" Gabriel whispered. He was unable to talk or lift his head to face his brother.

Greg shook his head. "Three months." He said. He raised his blade to his throat and slit it quickly. "I'm sorry." He mouthed. Just before his body hit the ground it vanished.

He could no longer see out of his right eye. His tail had been cut off and he was losing blood quickly. And Malefor... he was to tell Malefor how his father was? He was a human, how could his father be here in this world? And what did he whisper to him. He could not remember. All he knew was that he never had a father. Unless... He was not able to finish his thought. He closed his eyes and exhaled the last of the air in his lungs and gave into his death.

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><p><strong>Big thanks to Dardarax for proof reading another chapter :) R&amp;R would be awesome ^^<strong>


	10. Chapter 9

**Hope you enjoy the longest chapter so far as much as i did writing it :) R&R and let me know what you think.**

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><p>"<em>How is he doing?"<em>

"_Will he be alright?"_

"_I'm sorry, we cannot say for sure at this time. He has suffered major trauma and I would be befuddled and astounded if he were to ever recover from this. It is all up to his will at this time."_

"_And what of his eye?"_

"_That is another thing. From what we can assume, it was caused by something very dark. We have used one of the healing crystals on him but it had no effect. I do believe that when he wakes, if he ever does, he will never see out of it again."_

"_Hey he's moving! Is he waking up?"_

"_I'm afraid not. He has been mumbling something for a while now but it is still inaudible. Spyro, Cynder, please let him rest, he will need it."_

Gabriel shot upright and gasped for air. He coughed hard and panted heavily. Sweat poured from his face and body. His arms were killing him, his tail was on fire, and his eye... his eye! The pain in his arms and tail went away after a few seconds, but his eye continued to burned just as his chest had. He placed his paw over it and felt a soft cloth and bandages around it.

He sighed with relief and cut away the bandages. Once they were removed he was shocked at what he saw. Nothing. He felt around his eye again to make sure he had removed all of the bandages and started to hyperventilate when nothing else was there.

"Malefor." He growled. He clenched his teeth together so tight that he started to bleed.

"Gabriel!" Cynder shouted from the doorway. She ran to the side of his bed, Spyro followed just behind her.

He ignored her and turned his head away. "Hey Spyro." He said.

"Hey." Spyro mumbled. He kept a distance from the dragon in case he was to try anything again.

"And what about me?" Cynder huffed.

Gabriel sighed. "Hey Cynder." He said none to pleasantly.

"What happened to you?" Spyro asked. He wanted to skip the not so pleasant, pleasantries.

"I'd rather not talk about it." Gabriel said and sighed.

Cynder bit her tongue so as not to say anything. She knew why he was upset and thought it was best to keep it from Spyro for the moment.

"Well anyways, you have been out cold for a few days now." Spyro said.

"What?" Gabriel shouted and jumped off his bed. When he landed his front legs gave way and he fell face first to the floor.

Spyro stifled a laugh and cleared his throat. "I wouldn't move around to much if I were you, we have a long way ahead of us and we will need our rest, especially you." He said.

Gabriel growled and lifted himself off of the floor. His legs were wobbly but otherwise fine. "What happened to Flame?"

"We don't know." Spyro said and shrugged his shoulders. "He woke up yesterday but he is suffering from memory loss."

"So he doesn't remember anything of what happened?" Gabriel asked.

Spyro shook his head. "Nope. The only thing he said he remembered was that he and Ember were attacked on their way back from a village somewhere in the east at night."

Gabriel sighed again. "My brother no doubt."

Spyro nodded. "Yes, he said he recalled a hooded figure just before he was attacked but that's about it."

"The guardians have sent hawks to the villages that they visited telling the dragons that were in hiding not to return to Warfang until this ordeal has been resolved." Cynder stated.

"There are others?" Gabriel asked.

"Yes apparently so." Spyro said and nodded his head. Both Spyro and Cynder were shocked to hear that there were more dragons other than them, but were happy none the less.

Gabriel sighed and rubbed his eye. He kept it closed so the burning would be more tolerable, which it was, but not by much.

"I wouldn't suppose you have a shower or bath I could use do you?" Gabriel asked. He hoped that he could wash away the aches and pains in his body, and most importantly get a look at his eye.

Spyro chuckled and clenched his nose. "Ancestors know you need one," He said.

Gabriel rolled his good eye and walked past him.

"Down the hall and to the left." He said.

"Thanks." Gabriel said and left the room.

Spyro and Cynder remained in the infirmary. It was quiet since the chief of staff was killed and the nurses were removed from the room. There were a few moles and cheetahs laying on the beds asleep. Unlike Gabriel, they had minor injuries, such as sprained ankles from patrolling for to long, headaches, small fevers, and other miscellaneous problems but nothing to serious.

"Hey Cynder," Spyro said, breaking the silence. "Why was he ignoring you when you walked in?"

Cynder had hoped she could avoid that question for a while, but knew it would be brought up eventually. However she too was not ready to talk about it. "Another time." She said and walked past the purple dragon.

Spyro, however, was not about to let this slide. "Hold on," He said and stepped in front of the dragoness. "He has a right to be cryptic and mysterious but you don't. I know you Cynder, what happened?"

Cynder cursed to herself. She knew that Spyro wouldn't let this go even if she asked him to. She sighed and took in a short breath. _"Well this isn't going to be easy." _She thought to herself.

"When you both left he came back into my room. He told me he knew I wasn't acting like myself and refused to let it go. So I told him about the dream I had." She said.

Spyro blushed. Once he was finally able to speak to her again, she apologized to him first thing and explained why she had attacked him.

Cynder ignored the burning in her cheeks and continued to explain. "He said he would give me some space but I told him to stay with me. He slept on the floor and I joined him. He was crying whenever he fell asleep and I can't imagine why he wouldn't. Somehow when I fell asleep, I entered in his dream, and he was... Killing these... creatures. Over and over, he would kill them and revive them until I finally stopped him. It was terrible seeing him like that, he showed no signs of mercy as he slaughtered them. " Cynder shook off a cold chill that ran down her spine as she remembered what she saw. "When he was finally calmed down, he showed me this place he called an orphanage, he told me he ran away from there with his brother when he was young. And then he told me that he..." Cynder closed her mouth quickly and wished she had stopped. She wanted to drop the subject, but Spyro was not about to let that happen.

"He told you that he what?" Spyro asked. He was very intrigued by the story, more so now that Cynder was trying to keep something secret.

Cynder sighed and cursed to herself. "That he had... feelings for me." She said.

"He what!" Spyro shouted. His muscles tensed up and his talons scratched the stone floor. He had spent a large portion of his life with Cynder and only recently revealed his feelings for her. And now a new dragon comes along, one who had never even met them until that very week, and he claimed that he loved her? It infuriated him.

"Spyro," Cynder said calmly. "He is upset with me because I rejected him. I told him that I loved you, and only you."

She licked his cheek and he sighed. "I love you too." He said and licked her cheek as well.

Cynder sighed. "That's not the bad part though." She said.

"Why is that?" Spyro asked and cocked his head.

"When I told him I didn't share the same feelings, his world was crushed. Everything started to fall apart around him and that's when I woke up."

"And when you woke up, whatever happened to him, happened?"

Cynder nodded. "Hunter was watching over him and when we couldn't wake him up we, went to get you and the guardians."

Spyro looked at the dragoness before him. He was glad that she rejected him, but at the same time, he felt sorry for him. For an odd reason, he believed that Gabriel really did like her, maybe he even loved her, and that he was really hurt when she told him how she really felt. But something about Gabriel made his scales itch. He felt as if Gabriel wasn't being completely honest with them about something, and whatever that something may be he was doing a very good job about keeping it a secret.

"Hey guys." A familiar voice was heard from the doorway. Sparx flew into the room and looked at the serious faced dragons. "Oh is this a bad time?"

Spyro shook his head. "Hey Sparx, where have you been?" He asked his brother.

"I went to visit the folks back in the swamp for the last few days. What's been goin' on around here?" Sparx asked.

Cynder and Spyro looked at each other. They rolled their eyes together. "Too much." they said.

It was different walking with only one eye. Gabriel would occasionally stumble on a stone that was slightly raised on his right side. After stubbing his paw for the third time he decided to test his wings. Volteer had neglected to teach him how to fly and focused on his powers alone. He flapped his wings slowly but it was only enough to get a small updraft beneath him. the slight draft lifted him a few inches from the ground but he crumpled to the floor. He tried again, but the results were the same.

He growled when he fell to the floor after his wings gave way for the third time. "Need to practice a little." He mumbled to himself.

He turned left down the hallway Spyro had told him to and was amazed at what he saw. Marble statue's of dragons, moles, cheetahs, wolfs, and many other creatures surrounded a gigantic dip in the ground. Towels were hung on racks next to the pool sized tub, along with soap and a few rags for cleaning. Two secondary, smaller tubs, that were most likely built for younger dragons at the time, were at the far corners of the much larger bath. A small fountain in the middle of the tub activated as if on queue to his presence, spraying water up into the air which caused a rainbow effect all around the room. Once the water filled the gigantic tub he took a moment to dip his paw into the water to test the temperature. Steam rose from the water but it felt soothing to the touch.

He didn't waste any time. He took a step back then dashed forwards and jumped into the pool-like tub. He sighed with relief as the water worked like magic to rejuvenate his sore muscles and joints. He surfaced and breathed in deeply. His sinuses were cleared and the burning in his eye subsided as the rest of his body was taken over in a blissful state of relaxation and comfort by the warm water. He turned on his back and allowed his body to stay afloat on the surface of the water. He used his wings to propel himself around the surface as he examined the statues that towered over his head.

Dragons of all kinds, signified by small engraved words on the base of the statues were all around him. The common ice, earth, lightning, and fire dragons were at all four corners of the bath, whereas the less common poison, fear, wind, and darkness dragons were on each of the sides. A glass window with the design of a purple dragon allowed light to shine through to the bath.

Gabriel sighed comfortably. He closed his eye and was just about to fall asleep when he remembered. _"Every time you close your eyes, I will be there..." _Malefor's voice rang through his mind.

He squinted through his good eye and sighed. He made another lap around the bath and settled on a step near the edge. He rested his head so he would peer just above the water. Bubbles popped as he sighed through his nose.

"Well this is gonna' suck." He thought to himself. He lifted his head from the water and opened his right eye. The steam made it sting and water so he had to close it again. Once the pain left him he tried to open it again.

He would have gasped if he wasn't already used to the abnormal. He had no iris or pupil. His eye was pure red and glowed slightly like his chest. The color reminded him of Malefor's; cold, lifeless, and evil. The cut from his brow to his upper cheek had closed and now formed another scar. It was more of a strain to keep it open so he relaxed his muscles and it closed automatically.

"Not even a week here and I've already been blinded." He grumbled. "What was it that he whispered to me... Nerve something..." He asked himself. He sighed when he couldn't remember. "Probably wasn't important." He thought.

He refused to close his other eye but he let his muscles relax in the warm water.

"Canon ball!" Sparx shouted.

Gabriel looked up and saw Spyro and Cynder jumping into the water. It caught him by surprise and he choked on the water that splashed in his face.

"Don't mind if we join you do you?" Spyro asked.

Gabriel shrugged his wings and placed his head back on the tip of the surface.

Sparx flew over to the smaller pool and relaxed on the surface. "I'm gonna' take a nap. You kids play nice now." He joked.

Cynder emerged on the surface behind Spyro and put a talon to her lips to silence Gabriel.

Despite how he was feeling towards her at the time he couldn't help but smile.

"What are you smiling at?" Spyro asked when he noticed the sly look on his face.

"Gotchya!" Cynder exclaimed and pounced on the purple dragon.

She giggled as he struggled to get her off of him. "C'mon Spyro, I thought you were tougher than this." She teased.

Spyro gave a sly grin and shifted his eyes signaling for Gabriel to get out.

Gabriel chuckled when he exited the pool and sat by the edge.

Spyro took a deep breath in and dunked his head under the water. Cynder yelped as the water started to freeze around her.

"S-s-s-Spyro!" She cried and jumped off of him.

Spyro and Gabriel laughed as she shivered from the cold.

"Th-th-Thats n-not f-f-funny!" She yelled.

"C'mon Cynder I thought you were tougher than that." Spyro teased her now.

Cynder stuck her tongue out at the purple dragon and he rolled his eyes. "Alright here." He said. He blew a hot flame into the water and heated it back up again.

Cynder dove back into the hot water and Gabriel resumed his position at the baths end.

Cynder peered at Spyro who was chuckling at his little prank. "Think it's funny do you?" Cynder asked.

Spyro stopped laughing immediately.

"That's what I thought." She said and drifted over to the edge of the bath. She kept a respectable distance between herself and the gold dragon next to her.

Spyro floated next to her and she leaned on his side. Gabriel tried to avoid eye contact with her and Spyro did the same.

"Hey, you never told me why you don't eat meat." Cynder said. The silence was getting awkward, well, more awkward than it already was.

"Lets just say that those kids you saw in front of the building thought it would be funny to drop a mouse inside my dinner."

"That doesn't sound so bad." Spyro said.

"Well I'm not really used to eating live rodents for dinner in our already disgusting dinner."

Cynder giggled. "Is that all?" She asked. "Surely you can eat other meat, it was just one time after all."

"I don't know." Gabriel said. "I haven't eaten meat in almost five years."

"No wonder you're so small." She teased.

"Yeah whatever." He said and rolled his eye. The water rippled as his stomach growled loudly.

"Well now is a perfect opportunity for you to get over your fear." Spyro said. Cynder nodded in agreement.

He put a paw on his stomach and waved with the other one nonchalantly. "I'm not hungry." He lied. Right after he said that his stomach growled even louder.

His face burned with embarrassment as the other two laughed. "Come on." They said in unison. They got out of the water and went behind him. They both grabbed one of his arms and dragged him out.

"Fine, fine, I'll go, geez." He said. He shook himself dry and used one of the towels to dry his face. "Wait, what about Sparx?" He asked and turned to the dragonfly.

"What about Sparx?" Cynder joked.

"Good point." Gabriel said with a grin.

The trio walked down the halls and many of the on duty moles were giving Gabriel weird looks.

"What's up with everybody?" He asked as they made another turn down the many hallways.

"Everyone has heard of what you did to Flame and that, whatever happened to you happened." Spyro whispered as they passed another mole.

"Oh." He said.

"Speaking of which, do you remember what happened after I..." Cynder stopped herself and blushed.

Gabriel ignored what she said. "I was in another memory, and that's when Malefor attacked me." Gabriel said.

"He what?" Both Cynder and Spyro stopped in their tracks.

"I'd rather not talk about it right now." He said and flashed them his blood colored eye.

He brushed past them and continued to walk down the hallway. "Hey I kinda' need to follow you two, I still don't know where anything is." He said and waved a wing for them to continue walking.

"I should have stayed with him." Cynder whispered quietly to Spyro. "This is all my fault."

"Don't say that." Spyro retorted. "If you stayed, who knows what could have happened to you?"

"I don't know, but I don't think its fair that he has to suffer this much." She said and hung her head.

Spyro covered Cynder with his wing and brought her close. "I know, but we can't change that right now, we need to focus on what's ahead, and if what Ignitus showed us will come true, we will need to take care of ourselves." Spyro said.

"Yeah, I guess so." Cynder said. She nuzzled Spyro's cheek and they broke away as they passed Gabriel.

The three walked together until they finally reached the mess hall about ten minutes later. "This place is to big." Spyro and Gabriel mumbled to themselves. Cynder however was enjoying the temple. The moles and cheetahs were respecting her for what she has done for them. She was happy here.

Four rows of about ten tables filled the room. Four banners, each with the four common elements, fire, earth, ice, and lightning, were at the end of each table. Four colored mats were at the end of each individual row for the guardians to sit and eat.

Volteer sat alone at his designated spot in the far left corner eating a small lamb. Spyro and Cynder tried to shy away from the fast talking guardian but Gabriel didn't mind him.

Volteer saw the three dragons and waved a wing at them. Gabriel did the same and started to walk over. Spyro and Cynder grumbled as they skulked over with him. Spyro spat a small flame onto Gabriel's rear and Cynder cooled it off with a slap from a gust of wind she created by flapping her wing.

He shot them irritated looks. They however looked away and whistled quietly. He rolled his eye and jumped up to the table next to the electric guardian.

"Why hello there, Gabriel, Spyro, Cynder." He said cheerfully. "It is such a pleasant, magnificent, and extraordinary day today is it not?" He said.

Gabriel nodded and smiled. Spyro and Cynder however rolled their eyes to each other.

"I see that you have recovered in a remarkable time Gabriel, how are you feeling today?" Volteer asked.

Gabriel opened his eye to show the electric guardian. "Aside from this, I feel fine." He said and let his eye close again.

"Ah yes, I assume that you cannot see out of it correct?"

Gabriel nodded. "I'm getting used to it." He said and sighed.

"Spyro, Cynder, how are you two today?" The guardian asked suddenly. Gabriel was glad he changed the subject.

"Fine Volteer." They both said in unison.

"Excellent," Volteer said with a smile, unaware of the attitude they had said it in. "Has Terrador briefed you of your mission yet?" He asked.

"No he hasn't." Spyro said.

"Very well then, if you wouldn't mind going to the pool of visions, he should be waiting for you there." Volteer said.

Cynder and Spyro nodded quickly and left without a second glance. "Thank ancestors." They thought.

"So if I might ask, how did you come about that scar on your eye?" Volteer asked. "I do not recall or remember such an intriguing mark before."

"I'll just say Malefor did this to me." He said and sighed again. "Just before he whispered..." Gabriel rubbed his head and tried to remember. "Nerv... Niv..." Then it struck him. "Oh I remember now, he something about a Nivara."

Volteer had just taken a drink of water then sprayed it across the table, soaking a few moles. "W-What did you say?" He exclaimed. The moles grumbled to themselves, picked up their food, and moved to another table.

"I said Nivara, why?" Gabriel asked.

"What else did he say?" Volteer asked and raised his voice. "What did he say?"

"I don't know, something about my father but that's about it." Gabriel said and backed away from the guardian.

Volteer was almost speechless. "How did he, how did you..." Volteer's eyes widened. "Oh no." He too backed away from the gold dragon.

"What's the matter? What's a 'Nivara'?" Gabriel asked confused.

"Why did I not see it before?" Volteer mumbled to himself. "I'm so stupid, so ignorant and confused!" He looked as if he had seen a ghost. "The egg was gold the other was black."

"Volteer are you alright?" Gabriel asked.

It took a moment but Volteer collected his bearings. "Malefor asked you about your father, yes?" Volteer asked finally.

Gabriel looked to the floor. "Yeah, but I don't have a dad or a mom." He said bitterly. He looked back up at the guardian quickly. "How did he know?" He asked himself.

"I don't think that's true," Volteer objected. He took a deep breath and sighed. "Nivara was a dragoness, she was your mother, and I... you... you are my son."

Spyro and Cynder sat patiently by the pool of visions for Terrador to return. He had left momentarily so it was just the two of them and Cyril. He was in a corner reading one of his many books on ice dragon heritage.

Spyro and Cynder were deep in a quiet conversation of how stuck up and proud Cyril was about his ancestry. They would occasionally giggle to themselves and Cyril would peer over his book and give a smile, unaware of their conversation. "To be young again." He said to himself and returned to his book.

"Master Cyril," A mole had just entered the room and saluted the ice guardian. Under his arm he held a very large book. "Here is the book you requested." He said and placed the book next to the one he was reading.

"Thank you." He said. "If you don't mind would you take this one back to the archives for me?" He asked and handed the mole the other book before the mole could even answer.

"Yes sir." The mole said and saluted the guardian once more. He exited the room and was mumbling something about a 'lazy, good for nothing, stuck up...' Spyro and Cynder laughed quietly.

"Spyro, Cynder, do you know anything about wolves?" Cyril asked suddenly. He closed the book and rubbed his eyes.

"Only that they aren't to fond of us dragons, why?" Spyro said.

"I have sent a request to a good friend of mine that you would be arriving in his village in a few days." Cyril said.

"And he is a wolf?" Cynder asked.

"Yes, he is the leader of his pack and should be of some help to you when you arrive." Cyril said.

"So why did you ask if we knew anything about wolves?" Cynder asked.

"I merely wanted to know if you were alright with staying with them is all." Cyril explained.

"Well as long as they don't try anything funny I think we should be fine." Spyro said and puffed out his chest.

Cynder giggled. "C'mon tough guy, we all know your a wimp." Cynder said and punched Spyro in the arm playfully.

"Ow what was that for?" Spyro asked and rubbed his arm.

"My point exactly." Cynder said and laughed.

"You can't be serious, I lived on earth all my life." Gabriel said. They had taken their conversation to somewhere more private.

"You never had any friends or fit in anywhere in your old world did you?" Volteer asked. "Every day was a living hell for you and you always questioned why you were there to begin with correct?"

Gabriel didn't give an answer, he just listened intently to the electric dragon.

"That's because you weren't meant to be there. Your mother laid your eggs here in this world, along with your brother. We had thought that you would be safe but that was until the night of the raid."

_The temple shook as hundreds of dragons battled outside. "The dark army is coming, you must take the purple egg and go Ignitus!" Volteer shouted. _

_Ignitus grabbed the egg and fled from the battle as the other dragons were forced to defend his escape._

"_Nivara!" Volteer shouted. _

"_Volteer I'm here!" The black dragoness shouted back._

_Volteer was carrying two eggs, one gold, one black. "I want you to take them and go!" Volteer said. "Guard them with your life."_

"_But what about you?" Nivara asked. "Don't leave me Volteer please!" _

"_I am sorry my dear, I love you so much." Volteer said and nuzzled his mate. "Now go, I will be fine."_

_Volteer ran off to intercept a group of charging apes leaving the dragoness with her eggs._

"_I love you." She cried and flew off._

"And that was the last time I saw her." Volteer said sadly. "I have no doubt in my mind that you and your brother are my sons but how you came to be in your world I do not know. Forgive me for not being there when you needed me." Volteer said and lowered his head.

Gabriel was speechless. He backed away from the electric guardian slowly and ran out the door. Volteer didn't try to stop him. A single tear fell from his eye. "Nivara." He said to himself. "What happened..."

His head spun as all the information he just received fried his brain. "I am a dragon?" He asked himself. "How? That can't be possible... can it?"

An idea struck his mind. "Ignitus!" He ran out onto one of the balconies and jumped.

He let his wings stretch out and catch him as he glided over the trees that surrounded the temple. His mind was to mixed up in thoughts that he didn't even realize he was flying. He flapped his wings subconsciously several times to keep his altitude as he thought. "Ignitus is the chronicler and every dragon has a book, so if I am a dragon, I will have one too!" He shouted into the air.

He raced through the air for several miles until he came across a flat grassy land. It was only when he was descending to land when he realized that he had actually flown. He began to panick, he didn't know how to land. He braced himself as he came in fast to the ground and did several rolls. His mouth was full of dirt and he groaned as he brushed himself off.

"Note to self: Walk, don't fly." He thought to himself.

He walked into the middle of of the field and sat down. He tried to focus his mind on Ignitus and where he was at but after several minutes, nothing had happened.

Gabriel growled as he tried again to focus on Ignitus so he could visit him, but it didn't work.

"C'mon you stupid powers, work damn it!" He shouted. When yelling failed to work he fell to the dirt floor and sighed.

"I need to relax." He thought to himself. He closed his eye and allowed his muscles to relax. He felt the tickle of the grass on his scales, the slight breeze in the air cooled off the almost evening heat. A butterfly landed on his snout. When he got a good look at it, he realized it was the same one as before.

"You must like me to come all this way little guy." Gabriel whispered so as not to make him fly off.

"I wouldn't say that I like you, but I like to be around you." The butterfly answered back.

Gabriel yelled when he heard the butterfly talk and jumped backwards. "You can talk?" He exclaimed.

"Well of course I can, some people just don't listen." The butterfly said back.

"What do you mean don't listen?" Gabriel asked the butterfly.

The butterfly didn't give an answer. It just floated above the spot silently. It dove down quickly and flew back up. It did this a few more times and Gabriel understood what it wanted. He took his position on the ground once again and allowed his mind to become calm once again.

"See, you can hear me now that you have unclogged your mind and will listen to the things around you." The butterfly said. "What others can't hear you can hear, what others can't see you can see, it is all a matter of observing the world around you and calming your mind." The butterfly said.

"For a butterfly, your pretty wise." Gabriel said.

"Thank you for your words but I believe you are here on other matters than to listen to me preach to you." The butterfly said and began to fly off.

"Hey wait, I didn't get your name." Gabriel called out to the butterfly.

"We butterfly's do not have names, but you can call me Dust if you wish. It was the name given to me by a fellow listener such as yourself."

"What was his name?"

"Nivara, I believe." Dust said and flew off.

"My mother?" Gabriel asked himself.

Volteer had joined the others for their briefing but was being unusually quiet.

"What say you Volteer?" Terrador asked for the third time. "Should they progress through Dante's Freezer, or should they wait with Fang until they can get an escort?"

Volteer mumbled something under his breath. His mind was too focused on what he had discussed with Gabriel.

"Say again Volteer, that chatterbox mouth of yours finally give out?" Cyril asked.

Spyro and Cynder giggled and Cyril smirked at them.

Volteer just picked himself up from his spot and exited the room. His tail zapped the stone around him as he walked out and he slammed the door behind him.

"Cyril!" Terrador yelled.

"What?" Cyril asked.

Terrador sighed and rubbed his head. "It does not matter. Spyro, Cynder, you will leave tomorrow morning at dawn with Gabriel and start your search at Dante's Freezer."

Both Spyro and Cynder nodded. "Where is he anyways?" Spyro asked.

"Yeah shouldn't he be here with us?" Cynder added.

"I asked Volteer if he had seen him when I called him in here, but all he did was mumble something I couldn't understand so I just dropped it." Terrador said.

"That doesn't sound like him, normally he wont shut up and now he's not talking?" Cyril asked.

"Cyril that's enough." Terrador said. He shot an irritated look at the ice guardian and the room became dead silent.

"So what do we have for supplies?" Spyro asked, breaking the tense moment.

"We have packs for each of you that will supply at least a weeks worth of food so hunting wont be necessary for the time being." Terrador said. "Fang will resupply you when you reach his village and he and his men will escort you through Dante's Freezer."

"Well that's no good." Sparx said. He had been listening to their conversation for a while and remaining silent behind them. "If you supply Spyro with all the food and don't give him the time to get it himself, he'll be fatter than he already is."

Spyro rolled his eyes. "Cynder, do you mind?" He asked.

"Gladly." She said and smacked Sparx with a gust of wind. The gust knocked Sparx to the wall and he fell to the floor.

"Just a joke, geez." Sparx he huffed and flew out of the room.

Once he was gone, Terrador continued their discussion. "Spyro would you mind looking for Gabriel now and inform him now?"

Spyro nodded and left the room a moment later. "Good lad," Terrador said with a smile. "Cynder, you may do whatever you wish now."

"Can I get that in writing please?" Cynder joked.

Terrador chuckled. "You can do whatever you please that is within reason."

"Darn." Cynder said and laughed. She walked out of the room and walked aimlessly down the corridor.

"Ignitus you here?" Gabriel shouted. His voice echoed endlessly into the darkness of the gigantic archives. He sat in the blue light waiting for the chronicler.

"Ah yes, one moment please." Ignitus' voice echoed back.

He appeared a moment later carrying several books on his back. He tripped on a stone that was slightly higher than the others and the books he carried fell.

Gabriel raised a paw and the books froze in mid air. He waved it over into the light next to a pedestal and they organized neatly on top of one another.

"Thank you." Ignitus said.

"You should be more careful, you don't want to hurt yourself do you?" Gabriel teased.

Ignitus chuckled. "Indeed I do not." Ignitus said. "Now, what is it that you are here for young dragon?" He asked.

"I need to know something." Gabriel said.

"And what might that be?"

"Who was my mother and father?"

Ignitus sighed. "That is what I thought you would ask. Here take a look." Ignitus waved his paw just like Gabriel and one of the books he had dropped unstacked itself from the others and flew next to them. It was a gold book. The title read: Aravin. "You are a dragon." Ignitus said and opened the book for him.

Each chapter of the book was depicted by how old he was. For fifteen years the pages remained blank, until the day he entered into their world... his world. He looked at the beginning of the book and two names were written next to one another. His mother: Nivara. His father: Volteer. He could not believe it. He was a dragon! The news that he was really a dragon made him happy, happier than he had ever been in his life. But at the same time it made him angry, hateful, and most of all sad. What happened to his mother, how did he end up on Earth with his brother?

Ignitus waved his paw again and another two books from the stack flew over to them. These two books were black and their titles were: Vexire, and Nivara. "Your mother named you after her, and your brother after one of her most powerful attacks: Convexity fire. When your mother escaped from the temple she sought out the previous chronicler for help. She had been hunted down by Cynder until she finally reached him. She asked him to send her eggs away so they would be safe until the war was over. He agreed and told her of the Arc. He said that it would send you and your brother to another world far away where you would be safe until you were ready to return, but at a price. Once the Arc was opened anything could pass through, and that included Malefor. So the only way to close it was to give a live sacrifice to keep you two safe and to close it before anything else could pass through. When she did the Arc broke into three pieces and scattered across the world so nobody would use it again."

This was too much to take in at once. Gabriel rested his burning head on his paws. His mother sacrificed herself so that he and his brother could live.

Ignitus sighed heavily. "You are in for a rough journey my young friend. Wherever you see hatred in the world you will be close to achieving your goal. Scorn and hate follows the Arc in its wake. You must not allow Malefor to obtain the pieces or we will all perish. Goodbye Aravin, I will speak with you again soon."

Ignitus became blurry and the archives around him melted away and shaped back to the grassy land where he was before. "Vex, my brother," He thought. "Nivara, my mother, Volteer my father, and me... Aravin." All the information flooded through his mind.

His whole life was a lie, the world he lived in was real, the sadness that he suffered there was real, and all because of his mother's sacrifice for him to live. He could not blame her, she wanted him to be safe, but at the cost of his happiness. It was a mix of feelings, hate and love. He loved her because she sacrificed her life for him, but hated her for sending him to a world in which he didn't belong. Why was his life such a wreck?

"Nivara... mom..." He whispered to himself. He looked to the sky. It was already nighttime and the stars danced elegantly in the distance. A constellation of stars formed a dragon and in seeing it, his mind was calmed. He needed to go back to the temple, he needed to speak with his father. He unfurled his wings and took off into the night.

"Inform all other guards to be on the lookout for Gabriel," Terrador ordered. It has been hours and nobody has hide nor tail of him. "When you find him, please inform me."

The group of moles nodded and scurried off, each going in different directions.

"Where is Volteer?" Terrador asked Spyro.

"I don't know," Spyro said. "I think he's been cooped up in his quarters since the meeting earlier."

"Please get him," Terrador said. "I need to speak with him immediately."

Spyro bit his tongue. He knew it was best to keep his question to himself for the time being. He and Cynder left the room and hurried off to Volteer's room.

"Nivara..." Volteer sighed for the thousandth time. It had been so long since he had seen her, so long that his memory of her was blurry. Her ruby eyes. They were so warm, so tender, so inviting, so happy. Every day her eyes would be full of life, so much so that it would affect those around her, lifting their spirits. Her sleek body. Her black scales shone in the light and as she moved, the light would reflect off of them as if they were dancing. Her maroon wings would be wrapped around any creature that needed warmth and love. She was so kind to everyone.

Volteer sighed again. He missed her so much. Where had she gone to?

"Hey Volteer, you in there?" Spyro asked as he knocked on the door.

"Y-yes." Volteer said. He cleared his throat and rubbed the tears out of his eyes. "Come in if you wish." He said.

"I just came by to tell you that Terrador wants to see you." Spyro said.

"Oh, alright then, I will be there momentarily." Volteer said.

Spyro and Cynder looked at each other. Volteer sounded depressed, his normal chatty and high strung attitude was dulled and sad. Instead of pressuring the guardian they decided to go and aid the guards in their search for the the gold dragon.

The night air felt good. Again he was subconsciously flying. When the temple came into view his mind returned to him. He did not panic this time about landing. He dove in like a rocket through the temple and let his wings go limp. He did several rolls and stopped when he hit a wall. He ignored the pain and dashed through the halls looking for his father.

"Volteer, what is troubling you?" Terrador asked. He knew it was about Nivara, but did not know of his son.

Volteer remained silent. He looked to the floor and was mumbling to himself quietly.

"Volteer." Terrador said again, this time louder so he would get his attention.

Volteer looked up at Terrador for a moment then looked back down to the ground.

Terrador sighed in frustration. He was getting nowhere, and fast.

"Nivara is dead Volteer, let it go." Terrador said. He had to be direct, even if it hurt Volteer.

Volteer picked up his head and stared into Terrador's eyes. After a long tense moment he finally spoke. "It's not that." He said quietly.

"Then what is bothering you so much?" Terrador asked.

"Gabriel!" Spyro and Cynder shouted. They had finally caught up to the gold dragon and blocked his path.

"Out of my way." Gabriel said and moved past them.

Spyro jumped in front of him again. "We've been looking for you for hours, where have you been?" He said.

Gabriel waved a paw and the faint glow of golden energy covered Spyro's body and he flew to the side. Spyro hit a pillar and coughed as the wind was knocked out of him.

It was Cynder's turn to jump in front of him in an attempt to block his path. "What's your problem?" She asked. "Why did you do that?"

Gabriel just shook his head and walked around the dragoness. She tried to get in front of him again but he opened his blind eye and she froze in place.

"I need to speak with Volteer." He said and continued walking.

When he walked around the corner to another hallway Cynder was free to move again and Spyro picked himself off the floor.

"What the hell is his problem?" Spyro asked.

"I think we should we follow him?" Cynder asked.

"And get thrown into another pillar? No thanks." Spyro said.

Cynder rolled her eyes. She wrapped her tail around his neck and pulled him with her as she walked. "Come on."

"Fine I'll go." Spyro said and pulled away from her tail's grip.

Cynder giggled and swayed her hips proudly. Spyro rolled his eyes and walked to her side.

"He's what?" Terrador and Cyril exclaimed. Volteer had just told them of what he learned.

Volteer lowered his head. "He is my son, Aravin." He said.

"How is that possible?" Cyril asked. He could almost laugh at the absurdity of his statement. "How can he be your son? He said he was from another world and he's lived there all his life!"

"I don't know how much of that I can believe, but what I do know is he is my son." Volteer said.

"He's telling the truth."

All heads turned to see the gold dragon standing in the doorway. They were all relieved to see that he was fine, but some questions needed to be asked.

"You believe him as well?" Cyril asked.

"I do not believe him, I know for a fact." He said. "Each dragon has a book, and Ignitus showed me mine. I could not believe it but It's true. My name is Aravin, my father is Volteer, and my mother is Nivara."

"How can that be possible?" Terrador asked. "All other eggs were destroyed in the raid, how did you survive, and how is it that you were in the other world you claim to be from?"

Aravin held his tongue. Volteer did not know that his mate had died as a sacrifice to save their eggs and telling him would only cause more pain. "I... I..." He tried to think of a way to drop the subject. He turned his head away from them to avoid their gaze. When he could not think of any other way to avoid the question he opened his blind eye and froze the guardians in place. He walked out of the room and the door shut behind him.

"Gabriel." Spyro and Cynder were outside the door waiting for him. They did not hear the conversation so they were still ignorant of what was going on.

He shook his head slowly. "I need to be alone for a little bit." He said. He tried to focus his powers and disappear but it was just as Malefor said, they don't work at night. He sighed and just walked away.

Both Spyro and Cynder followed behind him. "What's the matter?" Cynder asked.

"Please just leave me alone," He said. "I don't want to hurt you two."

Cynder backed away but Spyro stepped forward. "Is that a threat?" He asked. His teeth were bared and a low growl resonated in his throat.

Aravin shook his head again. "It won't be if you just back off." He said and continued walking.

Spyro took another step forward but Aravin whipped around quickly and opened his bad eye again. Spyro felt an extreme pressure press down on him and he fell face first to the floor.

Tears were swelling up in his eyes. "Please go." He asked and turned away again. He walked to a balcony and jumped.

Spyro growled angrily. "I'm gonna' kill him."

Cynder rolled her eyes. "Come on Spyro leave him alone and let's go get some rest, we'll all need it." She coaxed and helped the purple dragon off the floor.

Aravin flew to the roof of the temple. He walked over to the edge and slumped down. He placed his head on his crossed paws and sighed. Not a cloud was in the sky, so he was able to see the stars do their nighttime dance.

"It's nice out tonight huh?" A shadowy voice asked.

Aravin ignored his brother, he didn't care if he attacked him, it would be more of a relief if he were to die.

"Don't be like that," Vex said. He walked over to his brother and sat down beside him. He nudged his brother's shoulder with one of his claws. "What's the deal, cat got your tongue?" He asked.

"What do you want?" Aravin asked.

"I just wanted to spend some quality time with my brother before I have to kill you is all." Vex said plainly.

"And what makes you think you could kill me?" Aravin asked. He raised himself up and sat on his haunches.

"Oh come on, we both know I was tougher back in the other world." Vex said with a laugh.

Aravin rolled his eye. "Yeah, in the 'other world,'" He said and nudged his brother with a wing. "Here is different."

Vex laughed heartily. "You always knew how to make me laugh."

Aravin chuckled. Though his brother was now an enemy, he couldn't help but be happy that he was there with him. He looked at his brother and noticed a bulge in the back of his cloak. "I see you have your wings now." He said.

Vex looked at his back. "Oh these things, yeah, I got em' while you were out cold." He uncovered the back of his cloak to reveal two, pitch black wings.

"Speaking of when I was out cold, I still owe you for biting off my tail." Aravin said.

Vex covered his wings again and rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry about that," He said. "Just so you know, that hurt me a whole lot more than it hurt you."

"Yeah, I doubt that." Aravin said and rolled his eye again. They both looked at each other and laughed loudly. For such an odd moment, the two brothers were happy.

After they stopped laughing they looked to the night sky together. "So who's our dad?" Vex asked. "Malefor knows but won't tell me."

Aravin was caught off guard by the question. He didn't think his brother cared. He gave a short laugh and rubbed his lightning shaped horns.

"What's so funny?" Vex asked.

"You're not gonna' believe this," Aravin said as he finished laughing. "But our dad is Volteer."

Vex looked at his brother and smiled. "No kidding, Volteer huh?" He asked. "Well that would explain the horns." He said and poked his brothers head. "And I'm guessing that you inherited the ability to not know when to keep your mouth shut huh?"

Aravin chuckled. "Yeah right," He said and shoved his brother's shoulder. "Though there is one thing I don't get."

"And what might that be?" Vex asked.

"Is who you got your smart ass attitude from." He said slyly.

Both of the brothers laughed together. It was only until Spyro ascended to the roof when Vex stood up. "Well, gotta' run." He said. "See you around?"

"I've heard how fast you are, so I don't think so." Aravin joked.

This got another laugh from his brother. "It's been fun, tell dad I said hi." He gave a two finger salute and a black shadow started to cover his body.

"See ya' later Vex." Aravin said and saluted his brother off as he disappeared in the smoke.

"Hey Gabriel," Spyro said and walked up behind the gold dragon. "Who was it that you were talking to?" He asked.

Aravin didn't pay attention to him. He forgot that his old name was Gabriel.

"Hey Gabriel," Spyro said again but louder than before. "Earth to Gabriel, who were you talking to?" He asked and waved a paw in his face.

"Oh sorry," Aravin apologized. "I was just thinking aloud." He lied.

Spyro didn't believe him but chose not to call him out. His jaw had just started to feel good again and he wanted to keep it that way.

"Well anyways," He said. "We have a room for you to sleep in tonight. We are leaving at dawn tomorrow so you should get some rest."

He thought for a moment. If Malefor is going to attack him when he sleeps, he will need help.

"If you don't mind, would it be alright if I sleep with you two tonight?" Aravin asked.

Spyro was thrown off by the question. "Sleep in our room? Why?" He asked.

He couldn't think of a good excuse so he wouldn't worry them to much. He decided to tell him the truth. "Whenever I got this," He said and pointed to his eye. "It was because Malefor entered my dream and attacked me. If you hadn't shocked me like you did and got Malefor off me, I don't think I would be alive right now." He said.

"Malefor was in your dream?" Spyro asked in disbelief.

Aravin nodded. "And he said he would return every night until I submitted to him."

"So Cynder entered your dream when she was in contact with you while you both slept right?"

Aravin nodded again. "Yeah, when she left I was attacked. I don't want to risk you two getting hurt like I did, but I just want you to help me wake up if it happens again."

Spyro smiled. "You don't have to worry." Spyro said confidently. "We'll make sure your safe."

Aravin smiled weakly. Spyro didn't care about the odds or the danger of being around him and it embarrassed him to see Spyro be so tough when he was just being a coward. "Thanks." He said and walked with Spyro over to the edge above their room. "Oh and Spyro."

Spyro turned to face the gold dragon. "Yeah?"

He had never said this to anyone, he had never thought about saying this to anyone. "Sorry about I did earlier, I'm glad to have you as a friend." He said and jumped down to Cynder's window.

Spyro chuckled. He had never thought about it until then. Though they had a rough start, they were friends. "No problem, friend."

Aravin landed in the window and jumped down so Spyro could land behind him.

Cynder was surprised to see both of them return. "Oh hey Gabriel, what are you doing here?"

"He's going to sleep here tonight." Spyro answered for him. Aravin walked over to the corner of the room and curled up.

"Why?" She asked. "I thought we had a room available for him."

Spyro shook his head and mouthed 'Malefor.'

Cynder nodded in understanding. She looked back at the gold dragon, he was already fast asleep. She smiled and grabbed the sheet off of her bed and threw it over the sleeping dragon.

"Well we have a long three months ahead of us." Spyro said.

Cynder nodded. "And what would we do if there wasn't something trying to get us killed?" She asked. "Our lives would be boring."

Spyro chuckled and shook his head. "I don't know, I think you would keep me entertained for a while." He said and flicked her snout with his tail.

She growled and tackled him onto the bed. They made sure they were quiet so they wouldn't wake their guest.

They rolled on the bed until Cynder finally pinned Spyro's arms down and got close to his face. "I win." She whispered.

Spyro grinned and licked her nose. She was stunned by his action and he took his opportunity to reverse the positions. "I win." He whispered back.

Cynder giggled and raised her head so she could kiss him. She wrapped her wings around him and brought him closer. Spyro rolled to her side, still connected by the kiss and wrapped his wings around the dragoness. Their tongues danced back and fourth, never deciding which mouth to stay in to for very long. When their passion died down and they broke away, Cynder nuzzled her mate affectionately. "I love you." She whispered.

"I love you too Cynder." Spyro whispered back. Cynder pulled him even closer to her so they could be as close as possible. Spyro rested his head on top of Cynder's and she cooed happily. After a few minutes, Spyro fell asleep.

She however, could not. She had wanted this moment to come all her life, but with the intrusion of the gold dragon it could not go any farther, no matter how much she wanted it to. She had lost her fear of mating, after her dream, she knew she had nothing to fear. Spyro would never do that to her, so why should she be afraid? She was ready, but was he?

Cynder dismissed the thought. She gave a small yawn as she delved deeper into the embrace of her lover and fell asleep.

Malefor swung his tail and struck Aravin in the head. Aravin flew through the air and smashed into a brick wall.

He raised his paw and several of the bricks hovered in the dust. Malefor walked forwards and right as he reached the veil of dust he was struck by several of the bricks. He recoiled backwards and fanned the dust away.

Aravin's blind eye was opened and several chunks of the destroyed wall surrounded him. He flicked his tail up and a piece of the wall was raised. It flew above his head and was sent crashing down to Malefor. Malefor jumped backwards and shot a ball of fire at the gold dragon. He used one of the chunks of debris to block the attack but when the dust cleared his feet were swept from under him by a black tail. His brother spun around and used his horns to bat him away. Aravin crashed to the dirt several feet away and coughed up some blood.

Malefor laughed evilly. "Good work." He said and progressed to the downed dragon.

Aravin growled. He had been fighting with Malefor for hours now and he couldn't hold out for very much longer. His hind leg had broken and it was almost impossible to get up. To make matters worse, his brother just joined in. He couldn't win against the two of them. He had to wake up, and this time he wasn't going to let them stop him.

He focused his mind hard to try and create something, anything to buy him some time. He ended up losing his concentration when Vex knocked him away again. Malefor intercepted him and shot a bolt of lightning in his back.

Aravin cried out in pain and shook on the floor as the currents of electricity flowed through his body. When he tried to move his tail to his throat, Malefor stepped on it and shook his head. "I don't think I'm done with you yet." He said with a grin. "This is way to much fun."

"Go to hell." Aravin said and spat at Malefor's feet.

"Been there and they didn't like me, so they sent me back." He said and laughed in his face.

"Just kill me already, this is getting boring." Aravin mocked.

Malefor wasn't one for games, or one to be messed with. "Boring huh?" He asked. "Well then let's see if I can make this a little more interesting."

He released the pressure from his tail and looked at his brother. Aravin's eyes widened. "No don't!" He yelled.

"Silence!" Malefor bellowed. He raised his paw and slammed down on both of his forearms and other hind leg. He brought his tail down and cut off the end of Aravin's tail blade. Aravin screamed in pain but his body was so pumped with adrenaline it refused to give in to unconsciousness.

"This is what you get when you try to make a fool of me." Malefor said and walked over to Vex.

"Move!" Aravin shouted to his brother.

Vex merely shook his head. "You should have listened." He said. "You should have given in to his orders.

Malefor clawed Vex in the face but his body refused to budge from It's position. His eye dangled by a thread from It's socket, his lower jar was broken and bleeding everywhere. Malefor continued to strike at Vex, but not once did he succumb to the pain. If he was knocked down, he would return to his position in front of his master, only to be knocked away once again.

Aravin could not keep it in. The sight of his brother mangled and beaten constantly made him sick to his stomach. He vomited a mix of blood and other fluids onto the ground in front of him. What he could not spit out he began to choke on. Slowly, after several more minutes of choking on his saliva and vomit he could no longer breath. Vex had his eye fixated on his suffocating brother. Malefor stopped striking Vex and allowed him to go walk over to his brother.

Vex slowly made his way to his brother's side. His eye had been cleaved out, his jaw had been broken to the point where he could no longer speak, his right arm was limp and dangled on a thread, he was a mess. He raised his blade to his brothers face and shook his head.

Aravin shot up and screamed. He coughed hard and gasped for air. He felt his limbs to make sure everything was still connected properly, much to his relief he was fine. His eye and chest scars burned with a red light and made the room give off an eerie blood colored glow.

Spyro and Cynder jumped from their bed and went to his side. Spyro and Cynder saw that he was okay and they both yawned loudly. "Whuz goin' on?" Spyro asked groggily.

Aravin did not answer. He closed his blind eye and walked to the door. The lock clicked from the other side and the door creaked open.

"Where are you going?" Spyro asked and yawned again.

"I need some fresh air." Aravin whispered. "Just go back to sleep."

Spyro looked back at Cynder. She returned to the bed and was mumbling grouchily. She covered her face with her wing to shield herself from the light and fell back asleep. Spyro shook his head and smiled as he followed the gold dragon out of the room.

"Hey are you alright?" Spyro asked.

It was no use lying. "It was Malefor again." He answered.

"Oh I see." Spyro said.

They walked in silence onto a balcony that faced to the east. The faint shimmer of light was seen over the horizon. It was time to go.

Aravin sighed. "Go and wake Cynder, I'll meet with you at the front gates in a little bit." He said.

"Where are you going?" Spyro asked.

"I need to talk with my father before we go." He answered. Morning had arrived and he didn't want to stay for Spyro's questions. He tapped into his powers and disappeared from sight.

* * *

><p><strong>Aravin -Nivara spelled backwards.- <strong>

**Pronunciation. Ah-Rah-Vin/Ven**

**Vexire -Named after his mothers Convexity Fire.-**

**Shortened to Vex. You won't be seeing his full name as much as his shortened name. (I guess if you want pronunciation of Vexire it would be Vehx-Iire- I think that's how you would do it?)**


End file.
